System and method for providing a single input field having multiple processing possibilities

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein are methods for providing a buy option to social networking communications. The method includes communicating with a social networking site that posts text, images and/or videos from posting entities to receiving entities. The posting can have data that points to a product in a product database. The data determines whether there is a sale-related intent. The data is used to access a database of products for sale from a merchant. When the sale-related intent applies, the system transmits the posting through the social networking site with a buy button associated with the transmission such that a recipient can easily purchase a product.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. Nonprovisional patentapplication Ser. No. 14/853,579, filed 14 Sep. 2015, which is acontinuation of U.S. Nonprovisional patent application Ser. No.14/822,368, filed 10 Aug. 2015, which is a continuation of U.S.Nonprovisional patent application Ser. No. 14/672,876, filed Mar. 30,2015, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Nonprovisional patentapplication Ser. No. 14/230,864 (Attorney Docket No. 088-0107(1)), filed31 Mar. 2014, and claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationNo. 61/972,843 (Attorney Docket No. 088-0107(2)-Prov), filed 31 Mar.2014, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/972,834 (AttorneyDocket No. 088-0107(3)-Prov), filed 31 Mar. 2014, U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 61/972,848 (Attorney Docket No.088-0107(4)-Prov), filed 31 Mar. 2014, U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 61/972,865 (Attorney Docket No. 088-0107(5)-Prov), filed31 Mar. 2014, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/972,879(Attorney Docket No. 088-0107(6)-Prov), filed 31 Mar. 2014, U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 61/972,861 (Attorney Docket No.088-0107(7)-Prov), filed 31 Mar. 2014, U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 61/972,878 (Attorney Docket No. 088-0107(8)-Prov), filed31 Mar. 2014, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/972,892(Attorney Docket No. 088-0107(9)-Prov), filed 31 Mar. 2014, U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 61/972,890 (Attorney Docket No.088-0107(10)-Prov), filed 31 Mar. 2014, and U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 61/973,287 (Attorney Docket No. 088-0107(11)-Prov),filed 1 Apr. 2014, then entire contents of each of which are hereinincorporated by reference in their entireties.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to an improved use of a generalized inputfield operated by an entity, such as on a website, social networkingsite or other user interface. A user can enter input data such as textor an image identifying a product. If a purchase/buy intent isdetermined, the system provides a buy option to viewers of the image ortext. Upon interaction with the buy option, the system processes apayment from the entity and coordinates with a merchant to deliver theitem through an application programming interface.

2. Introduction

The current use of input fields, such as the search field on Google™, issimple. The user inputs text related to a search and hits enter orclicks on the search button. Then Google processes the search andreturns a list of results. Consider, however, if the user then desiresto search Amazon® to purchase an item. The user then must enter theaddress www.Amazon.com into the URL field of the web browser and hitenter or click “go” or provide some similar input, at which point theweb browser contacts Amazon, retrieves the page data, and presents theAmazon web page user interface with a separate search field. The userthen enters a search term in that input field and hits enter or clickson the search button. This is the typical approach where each websitehas an input field for use in searching under the umbrella of thatparticular website.

Thus, if a user transitions between doing a Google search, and thenmaking a purchase on Amazon or on eBay, the user must navigate tomultiple websites separately, and use multiple, separate input searchfields to ultimately make a desired purchase or execute a desiredsearch. The existing paradigm involves first going to a website and theninputting data into the search field of that website.

In some desktop versions of the Opera™ web browser, for example, a usercan type into a search field an indicator of what type of search to do.For example, the user can set shortcut codes for various search enginesso that a search of “g Olympics” will result in a Google search on theword “Olympics.” Similarly, a search of “b Olympics” results in a Bing®search on the Olympics, while a search of “z Olympics” results in asearch of Amazon.com™ on the Olympics. However, these require extratyping, and thus can take longer, and are also only limited to a singlesearch source, and still require the user to navigate through the searchresults at the requested site. Thus, the user still must performmultiple additional steps to accomplish a desired goal.

Some versions of the Mozilla Firefox™ web browser provide a search fieldto the side of the URL field. The user can select from different searchengines or websites for that search field, such as changing the field tosearch Google, Wikipedia, Yahoo, Bing, or Amazon. However, this is stillcumbersome, as the user must change the field manually between differentsites if the user desires to switch search sources.

The same principles above apply to any non-commerce website or site. Forexample, when a user is on any site or application that is not acommerce application, that user will have to change or manually navigatefrom the non-commerce site to a commerce site to make a purchase. Thisis the case for all social media sites that are not designed to sellproducts but are designed to connect users in particular ways. Twitter,Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and other social networking sites areall like this. Their conventional ways of interacting do not enable auser to easily transition to making a purchase or selling a product.This of course is by design, as they are not commerce sites. What isneeded is an improved and simplified approach to enabling a transitionfrom any non-commerce site to a commerce experience.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure focuses on applying the concept disclosed hereinto social networking sites like Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest andFacebook. The basic concepts disclosed herein involve addressing anInternet-centric problem if making purchases more efficient from sitesthat traditionally and conventionally do not provide the ability to buyitems. Thus, www.google, www.twitter.com, www.facebook.com,www.pinterest.com, and www.instagram.com, plus their associated sitesand mobile applications, conventionally provide the ability to search,or post pictures, or tweet a text or an image, without the ability topurchase anything within the site. In general, the concepts providedherein enable a site to receive input, according to its conventionalprocess, and then analyze the input to determine whether there is apurchase/sale intent. The analysis includes evaluating the input (text,video, image, etc., depending on the application) for a reference to aproduct database. If there is a match or a confirmation from theevaluation that the input has an associated product, then the siteprocesses the input with the addition of a buy option for that product.The site can process a payment within the site through stored paymentinformation or means such as Apple Pay or PayPal, or the site cantransition the user to a merchant site for further processing. When theevaluation of the input does not reveal a link or reference to a productdatabase, the site processes the input in the conventional fashion.Thus, the unconventional steps in terms of processing social networkinginput is to include where appropriate the additional processing of apayment and delivery of a product. The following continuationapplication focuses on the social networking aspect of this disclosurewhile the parent cases focused on the search field input aspect. Eachdifferent social networking site has different aspects as well. Forexample, the processing from the standpoint of the site is one aspectwhile the processing from the standpoint of the merchant covers anotheraspect.

Twitter

An example method includes presenting an input field on a user interfaceof a social networking site, wherein the input field is associated withprocessing data for social networking within the social networking site.This would apply to a Twitter account or Facebook and so forth. Twitterenables users to send and read short 140 character or less messagescalled “tweets.” Usually, users input data into an input field and thedata (text, pictures, and/or video, etc.) is transmitted to followers ofthat user. The method can include receiving text-based user input in theinput field and determining whether the text-based user input isassociated with a product database of products for sale from a merchantusing the text-based user input to yield a determination. The method canfurther include determining, based on the determination, whether thetext-based user input indicates that there is a reference in thetext-based user input to the product database. The system can alsoalternately seek to determination whether the input indicates one of afirst intent, such as to just send a normal communication, and asale-related intent, such as to buy or sell a product or service. Inother words, the user may just be providing a normal tweet to the systemwhich is distributed or transmitted in the normal fashion through thesocial networking site according to the first intent (a normal tweetintent to share information with followers). A merchant or a separateservice can provide code to a merchant's processing system to enable theinteraction with Twitter and the reference to the product database whichtriggers the presentation and processing using the buy button. Twittercan also evaluate the image that is posted for a reference to a productdatabase. Thus, the image attached to a tweet could include metadatawhich is text that references a product database and triggers the use ofthe buy button processing within the site.

However, when the determination indicates that there is a reference tothe product database and thus the sale-related intent, the methodincludes transmitting the text-based user input through the socialnetworking site with a buy option associated with the text-based userinput. In this case, for example, the text input can provide a link tothe product database or a service that indicates an intent to send anadvertisement, or to buy a product, or to sell a product. If the intentis a sale or purchase-related intent, then in additional to justtransmitting the tweet through the social network, the system cancoordinate and present a buy button associated with the text input.Thus, a recipient of the tweet will not only see at least some text ofthe tweet but will see a buy button and the system can receive apurchase interaction associated with the buy option. The system wouldthen process the purchase of in item associated with the tweet. Throughan API, as is noted herein, the purchase can be processed and deliverycan be managed by the merchant. This process will increase conversion ofsales through social networking. Of course similar approaches can beused through any social networking site like Facebook and others. Thisapproach addresses an Internet-centric problem of how to improve salesof products via mobile devices and particularly through the use ofsocial networking. People spend much time on social networks which areInternet-centric and would like to be able to improve and speed up theability to purchase products through these on-line networks. As notedabove, the reference to a product database can also occur via an imageor a video posted on Twitter.

The merchant side processing can enable buy options to be offered aspart of tweets or social networking posts. A method includesestablishing, from a merchant, communication between the merchant and asocial networking site that processes and transmits short messages of140 characters or less within the social networking site. Similarly, themerchant could post images or video with metadata which can be evaluatedwithin the site (Twitter) for the reference to a product database. Thesocial networking site can present an input field on a user interface,receive textual user input in the input field, and determine whether thetextual user input is associated with a product database of products forsale from the merchant using the text-based user input to yield adetermination. When the determination indicates that there is noreference in the textual user input to the product database, the sitetransmits the textual user input through the social networking site inthe normal fashion. When the determination indicates that the textualuser input references the product database of products for sale, andthus indicating a sale-related intent, the site transmits the textualuser input through the social networking site with a buy option for anitem associated with the textual user input. The merchant, communicatingwith the social networking site through an API, can receive anindication that a purchase interaction associated with the buy optionwas received and process a delivery of the item to a person who providedthe purchase interaction or based on the purchase interaction.

In another aspect, the method can include presenting an input field on auser interface of a social networking site, wherein the input field isassociated with processing and transmitting short messages of 140characters or less within the social networking site, receiving userinput comprising at least user text in the input field, and determiningwhether text based on the user input correlates to a product in adatabase of products for sale by a merchant to yield a correlation. Whenthere is not a product that correlates to the text, the method includestransmitting the user input through the social networking site. Whenthere is a product that correlates to the text, and thus indicating asale-related intent, the method includes transmitting the user inputthrough the social networking site with a buy option associated with theuser input, receiving a purchase interaction associated with the buyoption and processing a purchase of an item based on the purchaseinteraction.

Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest

Of course similar approaches can be used through any social networkingsite like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and others. Facebook enablesusers to register, create a user profile, add friends and exchangemessages and posts of text, images, videos and other applications. Usersreceive updates on birthdays, anniversaries and can joint interestgroups organized in any fashion. Instagram is primarily a mobileapplication for sharing photos and videos. Users can share themprivately or publicly and can include some text in connection with theposting. Pinterest is an application that involves photo sharing andrequires a registration. Users “pin” photos, known as pins, or videosthrough collections known as pinboards. People can brown the content ofothers in their feed. Users can save individual pins to one of their ownboards using a “pin it” button. Pins can be organized by items ofinterest such as travel, weddings, sports, etc. Once a photo is pinned,users can also share it via Twitter and Facebook. Businesses can havevirtual storefronts on Pinterest in which users can broad the companypinboard.

In each case, the determining of whether a sale or purchase relatedintent is associated with a posting can involve analyzing the input(often text but it does not necessarily require text) for a reference toa product or service that can be purchased by recipients of the postingthrough the respective site. For example, in the Pinterest case, aposting is not text but is an image posted through the site. If theanalysis does not yield any reference to such a product or a service,found often in a database of products/services, then the respective sitesimply transmits or posts the sender data (Tweet, Facebook posting,pictures on Instagram or Pinterest, videos on Youtube, etc.) through thesocial networking site without any buy now option. In other word, thedetermination that does not necessarily require a parameter to be set ora specific result stored in memory. For example, if the tweet does notinclude a URL pointing to a product database, and the system isanalyzing the input for such data, the absence of the reference to theproduct database can in and of itself be the determination that therewill not be a buy now option presented through the social networkingsite for that posting.

In the Instagram or Pinterest approach, where images are posted from aposting entity to a group of recipients, the process can operate asfollows. A method includes receiving a posting of an image through asocial networking site, wherein the social networking site receives andtransmits posted images from a posting entity to receiving entities. Asystem can analyze the image for associated text-based data. The textdata can be metadata or other data that provides information about theimage and can reference a product database, for example an inventorydatabase, associated with an item in the image. The system determineswhether the associated text-based data identifies a product within aproduct database for sale from the posting entity to yield adetermination. For example, the system can determine that there isinventory for the item in the product database. When the determinationindicates that there is no reference to the product in the productdatabase, the system transmits the image input through the socialnetworking site without a buy now button. In this manner, the posting ofthe image would proceed through the social networking site in the normalfashion. When the determination indicates that the image references theproduct in the product database, and thus indicating a sale-relatedintent, the system transmits the image through the social networkingsite with a buy option associated with the image. When the systemreceives a purchase interaction associated with the buy option, thesystem processing a purchase of an item based on the purchaseinteraction.

Another example method disclosed herein is provided which addresses theconcern above regarding the internet-centric problem in needing tonavigate between search related sites and purchase related sites. Anexample method includes presenting an input field on a user interface ofa first generalized search entity, wherein the input field is associatedwith processing data using a generalized search engine that indexes andsearches both merchant sites and non-merchant sites. Google.com is anexample of such a generalized search entity. The method includesreceiving user input in the input field, determining, via a processor,that the user input is associated with one of a search intent and apurchase intent to yield a determination. When the determinationindicates the search intent, then the system presents a search resultcomprising a non-merchant site and receives a search interactionassociated with the non-merchant site. The system then transitions theuser to the non-merchant site.

When the determination indicates the purchase intent, the systempresents a purchase-related search result comprising a buy optionassociated with the user input and receives a purchase interactionassociated with the buy option. The system then manages a purchase of anitem associated with the purchase interaction based on or by usingpayment information stored at the generalized search entity. Delivery ofthe item can be handled via a merchant site separate from thegeneralized search entity. Managing the purchase can using the paymentinformation stored at the generalized search entity can mean providingthat payment information to the merchant site or processing a paymentand notifying the merchant site to handle delivery. The coordinationbetween the generalized search engine (or its application on a mobiledevice) and the separate merchant site (or merchant application on amobile device) can be accomplished through an application programminginterface or communication interface which exchanges the necessaryinformation to accomplish processing the purchase and delivering theitem between the generalized search engine and the merchant.

The merchant sites and non-merchant sites can be websites orapplications on mobile devices. The method can further includeprocessing a payment for the purchase of the item from the generalizedsearch entity to the merchant site. In this manner, the generalizedsearch entity receives payment for an item and then pays the merchant.The generalized search entity and the merchant site can communicate viaan application programming interface for managing the purchase anddelivery of the item.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a system architecture;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example search field;

FIG. 3 illustrates a drop down and drop up menu according to an aspectof this disclosure;

FIG. 4A illustrates a first example resulting interface according to anaspect of this disclosure;

FIG. 4B illustrates a second example resulting interface according to anaspect of this disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a method embodiment for presenting a one-clickpurchase option relating to a search input;

FIG. 6 illustrates another graphical resulting interface in response toreceived user input;

FIG. 7 illustrates an example system embodiment;

FIG. 8 illustrates an example method embodiment for processing aselection from a user;

FIG. 9 illustrates a user interface associated with an embodiment;

FIG. 10 illustrates a method embodiment for executing an action based oninput directed to a user interface integrated from another source;

FIG. 11 illustrates an example method embodiment for a modifiable entrybutton;

FIG. 12A illustrates an example modifiable entry button;

FIG. 12B illustrates input into an input field with a modifiable entrybutton;

FIGS. 12C and 12D illustrate various changes and modifications thatoccur as a user types into an input field;

FIG. 13 illustrates an example user interface;

FIG. 14 illustrates an example method embodiment for operation of asearch application programming interface (API);

FIG. 15 illustrates communications via an application programminginterface (API);

FIG. 16 illustrates an example method embodiment for an example modifiedbrowser interface;

FIG. 17A illustrates an example browser interface;

FIG. 17B illustrates an example interface with prepopulated tabs;

FIG. 18 illustrates an example method embodiment relating topre-populating a merchant shopping cart;

FIG. 19 illustrates an example architecture for pre-populating amerchant shopping cart;

FIG. 20 illustrates example user interfaces for a pre-populated merchantshopping cart;

FIG. 21 illustrates a method embodiment for determining user intent asone of a generalized non-purchasing search or a search with intent topurchase;

FIG. 22 illustrates some of the components that can be used with themethod embodiment shown in FIG. 21;

FIG. 23 illustrates a method embodiment for an application-based searchportal instead of a search via a web site;

FIG. 24 illustrates a method embodiment for selecting a transition typebetween interfaces;

FIG. 25 illustrates a method embodiment for presenting advertisements;

FIG. 26 illustrates a method embodiment for presenting miniatureversions of destination websites;

FIG. 27 illustrates a user interface with various destination sites in apreprocessed state;

FIG. 28 illustrates another method embodiment; and

FIG. 29 illustrates another method aspect.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A system, method and computer-readable storage devices are disclosewhich unify access to multiple websites or other information sourcessuch that the user only needs to visit one location, and utilize oneinput search field to achieve a number of different potential resultssuch as doing a search or purchasing a product. That one location can bea website, a search bar in a web browser, an application on a desktop,laptop, smartphone, tablet, or other mobile device, etc. Rather thannavigating to a website to perform a search in the context of thatwebsite, a user can instead navigate to or open a generalized searchfield. The search field can provide access to a search engine thatcrawls and indexes other websites at a large scale, such as the searchengines provided by Google™, Yahoo™, or Bing™. In one embodiment, “at alarge scale” can mean crawling and indexing at least 25,000 differentdomains. The search field can be applied to larger or smaller crawlingdomains. Thus, the generalized search engine can provide a primaryfunction of serving results in response to search queries, whilesimultaneously provided a secondary function of identifying searchesthat may indicate a user's intent to make a purchase and providing quickand easy access for the user to act on that intent.

Via the generalized search field, the system can implicitly orexplicitly process and analyze the input from the user and the resultingcontext. The system can also analyze based on a corpus of existingcontext for the user, such as recently viewed or opened web pages,recent actions the user has performed on the computing device, calendarinformation for the user, location data, recent purchases or othertransactions, social networking data including posts, messages sent tofriends, birthdays of friends, and so forth. The system can incorporate,as a data source, any information that can provide direct or indirectcontext for understanding or processing the input. For example, previoussearch history or purchasing history can provide direct context, whilesocial media posts of friends of the user can provide indirect context.

Thus, the user goes to the website second, after the search is entered.This approach reduces the number of interactions, starting when the useropens a browser or application, to get to a webpage to make a purchaseor a webpage of search results. In another aspect, drop down or drop“up” menus provide a much more rich opportunity for processing optionssuch as one-click purchases or searching particular websites such aseBay® using the text input as search data. These drop down or drop “up”menus can be based on the location of the search input box, a searchbutton, or some other element in the user interface. In yet anotheraspect, the generalized search field can still provide ‘traditional’search results from one or multiple search sources, but can present, inaddition to the traditional search results, one-click actions that theuser can use, for example, to make a purchase directly from the listingof search results.

Various embodiments of the disclosure are described in detail below.While specific implementations are described, it should be understoodthat this is done for illustration purposes only. Other components andconfigurations may be used without parting from the spirit and scope ofthe disclosure. When specific method embodiment examples are discussed,the various steps of the method embodiments can be implemented indifferent orders, combinations, or permutations, including additionalsteps, or excluding specific steps.

The present disclosure overcomes the above-indicated deficiencies incurrent search implementations by providing a unified search field thatenables a user to provide user input and achieve, in very few steps, oneof a set of goals, such as completing a purchase, executing a search,executing a program, or interacting with an online service. The user canprovide the user input as text, or in any other suitable form includingmultimodal input, gesture input, voice input, etc. When the disclosurerefers to “input text” or “text” from the user, it is understood thatthe input can be provided as text or via some other input modality. Thesystem can process the user input using traditional options such as aweb search, but additionally, the system can process the user input toidentify, present, and/or execute purchasing options or more focusedsearching options on other websites. The system can present theseoptions in a tag cloud or drop down or drop up or drop sideways menus asthe flexibility of the processing of the user input expands.

The basic concept according to a first embodiment is illustrated below.Assume that an example website www.one-search.com includes a userinterface with an input field or search field. The input field can be atext input field, or can be a voice input field that utilizes speechrecognition to populate the field with text from recognized speech, forexample. The field is not just a search field but is a more genericinput field from which multiple functions can be performed based on adetermined intent of the input provided by the user. The search field isdifferent from other search fields in how the www.one-search.com searchfield processes input. Usually, a person goes to the webpage, thensearches, or chooses a search website, and then the search field isconditioned with a particular website context for searching. In thisdisclosure, the search context is open when the user enters data intothe generalized input field. There is no presumption or setting that itwill be a Google search, or an Amazon search. The resulting context willbe dependent on an analysis of the input. The user interface can includea number of different search or processing buttons, each of which canexpand the types of processing to perform on the input text. Differenttypes of the buttons can include a Google search button, an Amazonsearch button, an Amazon one-click purchasing button, and an Apple.compurchasing button. The system can establish and provide the variousbutton types in advance. Alternatively, a user can set up a collectionof personalized buttons for tasks that the user desires or expects toperform with some regularity. The system can generate and present thesebuttons based on general search and activity trends of users, currentpromotions, advertisers paying for placement, and so forth. In place ofor in addition to buttons, as the user types input into the field, thesystem can present “peeks” into various webpages which can bedestinations for the users whether it is a search result, a purchase, anauction, or any other website destination. In this regard, rather thango to the website first, and then enter a search into a search field,this disclosure focuses on entering data in a general input field andthen going to the website, or making the purchase, and different ways ofprocessing that more improved input.

It is presumed, such as in the case of Amazon or an auction website,that when the user navigates to one-search.com, that user information,debit/credit card information, address information, etc., is stored in auser profile and available, as in the case of a registered user atAmazon.com. For example, as part of a registration or enrollmentprocess, the user can establish an account with one-search.com, andauthenticate or provide credentials to link the one-search.com accountwith accounts at other websites. So, as part of creating an account withone-search.com, the user can provide credentials for Google.com,Amazon.com, ebay.com, newegg.com, thinkgeek.com, andcheaperthandirt.com. Alternatively, the user can ‘link’ the accountswithout providing credentials. For example, the user can authorizeAmazon to share all or part of the user's information associated withhis or her Amazon profile without providing the Amazon credentials toone-search.com.

Then, when the user performs searches at one-search.com, the system canuse the existing linked accounts to generate one-click actions, orone-function (speech, gesture, multimodal input, etc.) actions. Forexample, one-search.com can perform a purchasing action when the userinteracts with a presented buy option. The user can then manage linkedaccounts via a user portal or user management interface, to linkadditional accounts, update credentials, remove linked accounts, ormanage which portions of the linked accounts are shared withone-search.com. Some websites may not require a linked account, but canstill be incorporated into the one-search.com search field. This can beaccomplished by processing a payment for an item associated with thatmerchant via the one-search.com registered account and enabling themerchant to handle the delivery. Some e-commerce sites allow purchaseswith a guest account, in which case a one-search.com action can includenavigating to the e-commerce site, adding a desired item to the cart,providing sufficient information about the user, such as paymentinformation, a delivery address, etc., to complete the purchase. Inanother example, some websites, such as a search engine, can be enhancedwhen linked to an account, but do not require a linked account. In thesesituations, the user can decide whether to link an existing account withthe search engine for processing purchases, or whether to use the searchengine without a linked account.

The one-search.com website can inspect and use browser cookies fromother sites to glean user data, glean search history, or any otherinformation stored in or made available via cookies. The system can, forexample, use a session cookie to determine that a user has or had anactive session with a particular website, and can use information in thesession cookie to construct a URL for a one-click page to execute apurchase in response to user provided input. Alternatively, the systemcan use the live session to negotiate the website, add a desired item toa shopping cart, populate payment and shipping information on behalf ofthe user, and present to the user the final stage in the checkoutprocess so the user can simply click once on a “submit order” button, orhit “enter” in the one-search.com unified input field to complete thepurchase. In this way, the number of steps from search to purchase (orfrom search to performing some other action), is drastically reduced.While many of the examples provided herein discuss making a purchase,the principles disclosed herein can be applied to other, non-purchasetransactions as well. For instance, in much the same way that the systemcan navigate to a website, populate a shopping cart with an item, andfill in shipping and payment information on behalf of the user, thesystem can also navigate to some other website for a result thatrequires a set of information to be provided. If the user enters thetext “Why did my credit score just drop?” in the input field, the systemcan identify one of the major credit reporting bureaus, a third-partycredit report aggregation service, or a free credit report site. Thesystem can automatically provide the necessary information, on behalf ofthe user, to get to the credit score information, and present that pageas a potential result or as an option in response to the user input.Many similar tasks on the World Wide Web require navigation from onepage to the next to the next, and input in response to variousquestions. The one-search.com system can shorten or automate the inputrequired from the user to navigate through these series of web pages toobtain a desired piece of information, a desired action, or a desiredoutcome.

FIG. 2 depicts an example search or input field. In this initialembodiment, the user enters a term in the input field of one-search.com,such as “iPhone 5S 32 GB silver.” At this point, the user can click onany number of options for processing the input, such as a Google search204, an Amazon.com one-click purchase button 206, or an Amazon.comsearch 208 button. In this example, the user clicks on the Amazon.comone-click purchasing button 206. Thus, from this field, the systemreceives that input, processes the input, and can execute a purchase,just as though the user had navigated through Amazon.com to an iPhone5S, having 32 GB of storage, and a silver color, and had just clicked onthe one-click purchase button. However, in this first embodiment, theuser did not need to navigate to Amazon.com but rather was able to makea one-click purchase from a separate website, namely the one-search.comwebsite. In one aspect, the user does not even need to click aparticular button, and can instead simply hit “enter” as the user wouldto execute a normal search request. From that, the system can analyzethe text input to determine if a probability of the user desiring tomake a one-click purchase is above a certainty threshold, and the systemcan then process an “enter” input as a request to execute a purchase.

The system can process the input according to the button clicked, asthough the user entered the text into an input directly at Amazon.com orGoogle.com and simply clicked search. If the user clicked a Googlesearch 204, then the system would return search results from Google, butcould similarly provide search results from Bing, Yahoo, or some othersearch engine. In one aspect, the system can transfer the user toGoogle.com, cause a search to be performed using the user's searchinput, and present the results as though the user had initially done thesearch at Google.com. In another aspect, the system can generate a URLat google.com as if the user had performed the search using the user'ssearch input, and open that URL at google.com for the user. If the userselects a one-click purchase 206, then the system processes a purchaseand delivery of the item through Amazon.com as though the user hadnavigated via Amazon.com to the item and made the purchase. In otherwords, the functionality of the “enter” button can be modified(dynamically, and several times) based on an analysis of the user input.Based on a variety of factors, the initial default might be a purchasecontext, but then the user starts to enter data and the context maychange to a web search, and then finally when the user is done enteringinput, the “enter” button may cause processing associated with mapping,or back to a purchase context.

If the user selects an Amazon.com search 208, then the system returns aview of the search results on Amazon.com for that phrase. In otherwords, the user could be transferred to Amazon.com, logged into theiraccount or joined into an existing session for the account, andpresented with a screen which is the equivalent (or essentially orfunctionally equivalent) of the state as though the user had searchedAmazon.com for “iPhone 5S 32 GB silver.” From that state, the user couldperuse the returned list of items and then perhaps choose an item, atwhich point the user could “one-click” purchase an iPhone. Transitioninga user deep into a separate site preprocessed to a certain state can becalled a deep link. This is where you do not transfer them to thehighest level of the site (such as to www.amazon.com orwww.merchant.com) but rather you preprocess the transition so that theuser is brought to a deeper portion of the site (such aswww.merchant.com/products/hats/greenhat) where they can more quickly besituated to make a purchase immediately or in very few clicks.

Indeed, in one example, the system can redirect the user to Amazon.com(or navigate to Amazon.com on behalf of the user) in the same manner asif the user had started at Amazon.com and entered the search terms. Inthis case, the algorithm of one-search.com would receive the searchinput, receive the desired instruction from the user (by clicking on theAmazon.com search button) and transition the user to Amazon.com. Userregistration information or web browsing state information stored in acookie or elsewhere or sent via XML can also be read or transferred suchthat the user is logged into their Amazon.com account in the transition.Data can be stored with one-search.com or with a browser or app. Theresult of this process is that when the user opens a browser to startbrowsing the Internet, the system enables the user to initiate anynumber of searches, purchases, or other actions via a single, unifiedinput field that requires fewer clicks or user input to get to searchresults, or to make a purchase.

Another embodiment simplifies the process even further. Typically, asdescribed above, a website such as Google or Amazon has a single-purposeentry so that the user can click “enter” and the received meaning ofthat is to process the text in the input field as a Google web search oras an Amazon product search. In this second embodiment, the search fieldhas multiple possible ways of processing the text in the input field. Analgorithm analyzes and processes the input to determine or predict themeaning or user intent of the text input. Via such an analysis, thesystem determines what type of search or action the user wants. Thus, ifthe user types “Olympics” into a search field at one-search.com, thesystem can determine via the algorithm that user is unlikely to want tosearch Amazon.com or eBay for “Olympics” because the Olympics is notsomething available for purchase. However, if the user enters additionalinformation, such as “Olympics windbreaker Sochi 2014,” the system canrevise the determination of intent, because the additional informationinput by the user is now directed to a specific item or category. Thus,the system can continuously evaluate or determine intent of the userbased on the text or data provided. The system can reevaluate intent aseach character or word is input, for example. The system can anticipateintent and cache or pre-load results or actions for a number ofanticipated intent scenarios based on context information for the userand the data provided so far. Thus, if the anticipated intent (i.e.,Google search versus an Amazon purchase versus an Amazon search) turnsout to be correct, the system already has the components in place or thepages fetched to service that intent.

The system may utilize any type of data such as user profile data,social media data, historical data, time of year (holidays are coming,summer time, a friend or family member has a birthday in one week,etc.), to make this determination. In this example, the system maydetermine when the user clicks on “enter” that the user intended aGoogle search for that input. For example, if the user types “PaulRevere American revolution,” the system can detect that the semanticcontent and the structure of the text is more closely aligned with aninformational search instead of a product search, and can route thesearch text through a search engine. In that case, the primary resultsas though the user had entered a Google search are presented. Theone-search.com results screen could also provide alternates in case theuser actually desired a Bing search or did want an Amazon.com search. Ifthe user enters that information into a search field at one-search.com,the system can cause the browser to navigate to google.com, upon theuser pressing enter, as if the user had searched at Google originallyfor the search string. Alternatively, the system can load thecorresponding Google search page in an iframe or other embeddedmechanism in a webpage, or as a new tab or window. The system canutilize any of a number of various transitions to present the Googlesearch page to the user, even though the user initiated the search atthe one-search.com page.

On the other hand, if the user enters “Revere tea kettle,” the systemcan analyze the input text to determine that the user likely desires tomake a purchase. Thus, when the user hits “enter,” the system can routethe search to Amazon or another suitable e-commerce site, or canimmediately execute a one-click purchase from Amazon based on thesearch. Upon determining that the user intent is a purchase, the systemcan perform an analysis of or rely on a previously performed analysis ofthe user's purchasing habits or other purchase related information suchas lowest price, lowest price plus shipping, availability, shipping timeor method, user membership in a shopping club, whether the user has anaccount with an online merchant, and so forth. Based on this analysis,the system can determine which retailers are above an intent threshold,and provide the user with ways to easily access those retailers. Thesystem can sort the retailers in an order of likelihood to be what theuser desires, and can restrict the list of retailers presented to theuser. For example, the list can be restricted based on a price spread,available screen space to present options to the user, or other factors.

In an example of these principles, the user enters the text “largesupreme pizza” into the one-search.com input field. The system cananalyze the user's browser history, previous queries at one-search.com,user accounts at various pizza delivery places, a location of the userand nearby pizza delivery places, credit card transaction data of pizzapurchases, and so forth. Based on this information, one-search.com can,before the user presses enter and/or mid-query, determine that Dominos,Papa Johns, and Pizza Hut are nearby, are open, and that the user hasmade purchases with them in the past 6 months. Then, the system canpresent a preview of each of these merchants so that the user can simplyclick once to place an order for a large supreme pizza. Theone-search.com system can display the logo of each pizza merchant, witha summary of the order that would be placed and the associated cost ifthe user clicks on the logo. For example, the system can display, belowthe Dominos logo, “16” large supreme pizza, $16.24, delivered to 123Fake Street, Springfield, Ohio. Delivery by 6:15 pm.” Then, the user canclick on the Dominos logo to place the order, or the user can interactwith the one-search.com page or Dominos webpage directly to modifyvarious aspects of the order before placing the order. Theone-search.com system can dynamically update the previews as the usertypes additional information in the search field. The one-search.comsystem can further provide an indication of a ‘default’ action that willbe executed if the user presses “enter” on the keyboard. In this way,when the user is satisfied with the default result, or only one resultremains after the user inputs the text, the user can simply press“enter” and the system can execute the action, such as placing an orderfor pizza.

In another example, the user enters the term “iPhone 5S 32 GB silver”into one-search.com. The system can analyze the text, to determine thatthis search is clearly directed to a product based on the specificamount of detail to identify one or a few items that could be purchased.Further, if the search is executed on December 8^(th), then the systemcan be especially tuned to be more sensitive to recognize purchaserequests due to the gift giving atmosphere surrounding Christmas orother holidays. The algorithm can analyze previous searches for variousiPhones to determine which, based on running the algorithm, would resultin a threshold value being passed that there is a high likelihood thatthe user desires to purchase this product rather than just search forit. When the user hits “enter,” the system processes that input asthough the user was viewing the iPhone 5S 32 GB silver on Amazon.comwith the option to make a “one-click” purchase. Here, by entering thatdata into the one-search.com field, and clicking “enter”, the systemcan, on behalf of the user, implement the steps at Amazon.com as if theuser had completed a purchase of the item. The system can perform theseactions via HTTP requests, as if the user had navigated to the websiteand entered the information herself, or the system can communicate withthe various web services via their established APIs. The system cannotify the user that the order has been placed, and provide any shippingor order details to the user. Alternatively, the system can transitionthe user directly to an Amazon.com environment or present a userinterface notifying them that the purchase is being processed by awebsite that processes via user profile data a purchase and delivery ofthe product as can be done at Amazon.com or by Apple.com, etc.

In one embodiment, the user can confirm the order before the systemplaces the order on behalf of the user. In another embodiment, thesystem places the order automatically for the user, and the user canchoose to accept the order by doing nothing or choose to reject ormodify the order by providing some input, such as clicking a button oropening an order page in a new tab or new window. In one example, thesystem may have placed an order for a silver iPhone 5S, but the userchanges his or her mind and wants to order a gold iPhone 5S. The usercan modify the order directly at one-search.com, or one-search.com canredirect the user to Amazon.com to modify the order. Sellers can competefor the business of processing this input, and the system could reporton who bid for the lowest price. The system can provide the user with an‘out’ by cancelling the purchase within a certain amount of time. In asimilar manner, the system can detect that a user has just placed anorder for an iPhone 5S, and implement a ‘cool-down’ period, during whichthe system will not automatically order an additional iPhone on behalfof the user without some additional or explicit approval from the user.

The system can cap or confirm orders that appear to be erroneous orunintentional. For example, if a new user does not realize how thesystem works, he or she may search for an iPhone 5S 32 GB silvermultiple times, and inadvertently order multiple telephones. The systemcan have a built-in mechanism to detect such potentially unintentionalpurchase patterns, and incorporate some heightened level of userapproval or confirmation before proceeding to make purchases on behalfof the user when such patterns are detected. The user can establishsecurity measures or purchase limits on the account, so that a child orunauthorized person is unable to make purchases above a specificspending limit, or so that purchases above a threshold requireauthentication via email or text message or some other mechanism. If thesystem detects an unauthorized purchase, the system can temporarily stopor prevent purchase transactions altogether for the entireone-search.com account, or for specific log-in locations.

Using the “enter” button and processing the input based on a predictedintent can result in ambiguities. When a user searches via Amazon.comfor a product, the user navigates to the right model with the desiredsize, color, carrier, and so forth. Then when the user makes anAmazon.com one-click purchase, the user knows all of the data about theproduct before making the purchase. In the model disclosed herein, thesystem can also deal with product ambiguity. Assume the user enters“iPhone 5S 32 GB” at one-search.com, and that the available colors areblack, silver, and gold. The algorithm determines, based on the inputtext, that the user likely desires to make a purchase and processes theinput text accordingly. The system can select the most popular color andfill in that unknown parameter accordingly. The system can select notonly the most popular model based on popular size and color, but thesystem can incorporate demographics data to determine the most popularmodel for people similar to the user. For example, if the user enters“iPhone 5,” the system can select a yellow 16 GB iPhone 5C for a teenagegirl, or a black 64 GB iPhone 5S for her father. The system can furtheranalyze past purchases of similar or related devices to determine likelyuser preferences for this purchase. If the user is already registered,and via the browser, application or website, the system knows who isdoing the search, then user preferences, history, classification modelbased on previous searches across multiple websites, etc. can be appliedto analyze the one-search input field. If the user has made electronicspurchases in the past that are all silver, the system can assume thatthe user is likely to want a silver iPhone 5S, and populate the cartaccordingly. Similarly, if the user has consistently purchased thelargest storage capacity model in previous purchases of mobile devices,the system can automatically populate the cart with the iPhone 5S withthe largest storage.

Returning to the above example, the user clicks “enter” and the systempresents a user interface screen that states “You have purchased theblack iPhone 5S 32 GB—if you want silver instead, hit enter.” In otherwords, the system can choose the most popular color, and present anoption to change a parameter such as the color via hitting “enter”again. This second hitting of “enter” cancels the previous order of theblack iPhone and replaces it with a silver one, or the system can simplyupdate the purchase request. At that point of time in the process, it isas though the user had been viewing a silver iPhone, with the rightfeatures, and hit the one-click purchase button such that no otheraction needs to be taken to have it charged and delivered. The systemcan integrate with the merchant via an API to place a hold on aparticular item, such as the black iPhone 5S 32 GB, while waiting for aperiod of time to allow the user to modify the order before committingor completing the purchase.

The process can be repeated as well. The system can present to the user“You have now purchased the silver iPhone 5S 32 GB—if you want the goldone, hit enter.” Hitting enter this time will cancel the order of thesilver iPhone, and replace it with the gold iPhone. If the user doesnothing else at this stage, the system commits the order for the goldiPhone, and the merchant will execute the order so the user will receivethe gold iPhone, and the merchant will charge the user for the order inthe normal fashion. Of course, button clicks can be provided for theuser to change the various parameters and change the order. Theinterface can say “you have purchased the iPhone 5S 32 GB black—tochange any of these parameters click here.” The system can presentvarious options to change the storage size, model, carrier, color,shipping options, etc. However, if the user does nothing, the systemarranges for and places the order with the merchant on behalf of theuser using the predicted parameters. As can be appreciated, the processenables the user from the time a browser or an application is opened up,to successfully make a purchase of the desired product in lessinteractions or fewer steps than was previously required.

In another embodiment, the system can include an autocorrect orautocomplete feature with one-click purchasing ability in the context ofa single search or at Amazon.com, one-search.com, or any other websitewhere a purchaser has registered data such as credit card, address, etc.A website search field can include an “autocomplete” where when the usertypes in a search term the autocomplete feature can either automaticallycomplete the concept that user may desire, or present a list ofsuggested or recommended options based on the text input up to thatpoint. The user can review the various autocomplete options and selectone, thus alleviating the need to continue typing out the rest of thequery. In this embodiment, the system receives a partial user input (orfull input) via an input field, and, when analyzing the input forproducing autocomplete options, the system can include a “one-click”purchasing option in the listing of autocomplete options. In otherwords, if the user enters the text “iPhone” as the partial user input,at that stage the system can identify and present “iPhone 5S 16 GB<one-click purchase>” as one of the “autocomplete” options. In thatcase, this modified listing of the autocomplete features reduces thenumber of clicks and the amount of text from the user in order topurchase the item. In other words, drop down or drop up features are notlimited to the concept of seeking a standard autocomplete feature butrather blends autocomplete with purchasing options or other options suchas jumps to other websites. Normally, the user would choose one of theautocomplete options, which would take the user to either an item or alisting of items, then the user has to click again to narrow down to oneparticular item, and then at that point the user is in position to“one-click” purchase the item. However, if the user clicks on the“one-click purchase” variation in the autocomplete listing, the systemcan place the order immediately.

The system can present various one-click options via the input fieldlisting. For example, if, at the stage of typing “iPhone” the mostpopular iPhone is the 5S, with 32 GB and a silver color, the system canplace that option, with a one-click purchase option, high or first onthe list of autocomplete options for purchase. The next most popularmodel might be the 16 GB iPhone in black, which the system can displaynext in the autocomplete listing. Competitors can also provide offers inthe autocomplete listing for a one-click purchase. A competitor canpurchase the right to present an autocomplete one-click purchase optionthat is related, but does not include the searched-for text. Forexample, when a user is searching for “iPhone,” the system can presentan autocomplete entry to one-click purchase a “Samsung Galaxy S4.” Thesystem can further present promotional material in these autocompletelistings. However, because space is limited, the promotional materialmay be limited. One example of such a promotion is an autocompletelisting advertising “Samsung Galaxy S4—20% off <one-click purchase>” atAmazon.com. Companies can purchase advertising space under theautocomplete listing, or can pay a premium to elevate their products inautocomplete listings for a specific keyword, specific product, brand,and so forth. However, the system can also use business intelligence orfeedback from various merchants to include, in the autocomplete options,results based on what people searching for item X eventually end uppurchasing, even if the autocomplete option does not include thesearched-for text.

Similarly, the system can track users' behavior, and can price certainusers' attention at a premium for advertisers. For example, if the userhas been researching smartphones daily for several weeks, advertisers offlagship smartphones may pay a higher price premium to target aninterested, engaged buyer with advertising in the form of autocompleteoptions.

The system can provide a “one-click” purchasing option right in a dropdown list of autocomplete options. Additionally, the autocomplete caninclude a listing that, if selected by the user, places the user in thecontext of one step prior to a one-click purchase at the merchant site.In other words, if a user enters “iPhone 5S” on a website likeAmazon.com, Amazon.com presents to the user a number of listings ofitems. The user has to click on one of those items to narrow the resultsdown to a single item, at which point the counting of clicks begins inthe context of a “one-click” purchase. While viewing that single item,the user is then presented with a “one-click” purchasing option. Such acontext, including the user's successful login with Amazon.com, would becharacterized as a “pre-one-click” web page where the user has navigatedto a point where the item is identified and the context is such that theuser can make a one-click purchase. The problem is that getting to thepre-one-click page takes too many clicks and interactions.

Thus, the autocomplete listing can provide a simple way for the user tojump immediately to the “pre-one-click” stage in the merchant's website. The autocomplete listing can not only include a “one-click”purchasing option at that stage, but could also include an option totake the user to a “pre-one-click” purchasing page, at which point,typically, there is more information about the item, a larger picture,reviews, a rating, product details, and so forth, such that the user canmake a more informed purchasing decision. For well-known products, theuser can make a one-click decision to purchase directly from anautocomplete listing, but for other products, the user may want toverify that the product is suitable for an intended purpose orcompatible with some other user needs. The previous result of clickingon an autocomplete option is to process that option as though it was asearch entered into the input field. However, that returns a listing ofsearch results and not a “pre-one-click” page with one item ready topurchase. Accordingly, this alternate feature reduces the number ofinteractions necessary to get to a pre-one-click purchase page.

The purchasing autocomplete type options could be presented on a drop“up” listing and the searching or traditional autocomplete options couldbe presented on a traditional drop “down” menu. In other words, thedirectionality of the listing can be indicative of the functionality ofthe items listed. The directionality can be side to side, or in someother direction or angle. For example, the various one-click purchaseand pre-one-click autocomplete listings can all be drop “down” menus,but at opposing 45 degree angles. The system can also present options ina tag field or tag cloud arrangement, where most likely options arepresented closest to the input field (where they would be the quickestand easiest to access from a mouse perspective) and with the largesticon, text, graphic or other visual cues for selection.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example one search field and drop down menufeature 300. In this example, the single field 302 enables the user toprovide input that the system analyzes to identify other options besidesa search that are available. In this example, the user inputs “iPhone5S” in the field 302. The algorithm analyzes that input to recognizethat the search is directed to a product. The system can access adatabase of current products, purchasing patterns, product popularity,purchasing history of the user or of other users, and so forth. Thesystem can access the database via an API call to one or more merchantdatabases. The algorithm can use this data to make a more accuratedetermination of whether the user desires a search or a specific productto purchase. In this case, the input “iPhone 5S” is clearly a product,thus this knowledge will help to drive and control the construction ofthe drop down menu options.

Because the user input in field 302 is a product, the example drop downmenu options can include a standard Google search 304. Although this isthe first option, the system can arrange the drop down menus to placethis option lower if the algorithm determines that the user is lesslikely to desire a Google search. The system can present more likelyoptions closer to the input field 302, or closer to the mouse cursor,for example. If a user selects that option, then the result that isreturned would be as though the user had entered “iPhone 5S” as a Googlesearch. The drop down menu can include an Amazon.com one-clickpurchasing option 306. If the user selects this option, the system canprocess the input as though the user were on Amazon.com, having searchedfor an iPhone 5S, and at a screen in which the user can select to“one-click”, execute the purchase of the product for the user. Inanother variation, the system can present a one-click option at theone-search page, directly from the drop-down or drop-up menu. So, theuser could click a button, an image, or a link to place the order withAmazon.com as if the user had navigated to the one-click point atAmazon.com and clicked the “order now” button. In this case, FIG. 4Aillustrates the resulting screen 400 presented to the user from choosingoption 306. Screen 400 includes data 402 informing the user that theiPhone 5S had been purchased via Amazon.com. When a color was notprovided, the system can chose the most likely color for the user or forsimilar users. In this case, the system selected silver. A storage sizeof 32 GB is also shown as part of the purchase data.

In the case of unwanted or unintended purchases as people perhaps hit awrong key or chose the wrong drop down menu option, the system allowsusers to cancel the purchase 404 or modify the purchase 406. The usercan modify any number of different options depending on the product.Options shown by way of example include changing the color from silverto gold or black. Similarly, the system can display an option to changethe storage size to 16 GB. An option such as “add accessories” can bringthe user to another interactive screen to choose accessories. The systemcan determine which modification options to present and the order inwhich to present them based on a confidence score for each option. Forexample, the system may have a confidence score of 95% that the userwants a silver iPhone 5S, and can either not display the option tomodify the color, or can display the option in a less prominent place ormanner, or can provide the option to change the color through a menu orother ‘hidden’ location. This approach can allow the system to presentpurchase or item options to the user so that the user is only concernedwith and can easily modify options about which the system is less sure.The system can present options to modify not only details about theactual item itself, but also about details surrounding the order, suchas delivery address, billing address, payment method, or deliverymethod. The system can even allow the user to switch the order from onemerchant to another merchant, if the user inadvertently clicked thewrong menu item in the pull-down menu, for example.

In that the entity which is processing the purchase is Amazon.com, as isnoted in field 402, the system could also present an option to processthe purchase through Apple.com. If any of these options are chosen, thenthe user selects the modify button 408 and the order is modified andautomatically continues to be processed. Of course the system has theuser profile, purchasing (credit/debit/PayPal, etc. account), addressand any other information and can move seamlessly betweenpurchasing/processing entities with ease. When the user sets up aprofile and account on the website, all of these permissions andaccessibility capability is established and approved. In this manner,operations necessary between entities to complete a purchase can bedivided as necessary. Thus, an example of seamlessly moving operationsbetween purchasing and processing entities can include the systemhandling a purchase and delivery transaction of an item by enabling apayment account registered with one entity (such as Google), to be usedto pay for an item while the system coordinates with another processingentity, such as a merchant or retail partner, to handle filling theorder.

Returning to FIG. 3, feature 308 represents an Apple search. If the userselects this option, then the next field that is returned would be asthough the user searched for iPhone 5S on Apple.com. The informationpresented by Apple on that product would be presented to the user.Optionally, the system can prompt the user to provide or confirmcredentials for logging in to Apple.com. In that the transition fromone-search.com to Apple.com occurred from one-search.com, the system canpresent an option in the new Apple.com web page to enable the user toreturn to one-search.com for further searches. For example, the systemcan provide a frame, in the browser, for returning to the one-search.comsearch while presenting the Apple.com web site. The frame can allow theuser to modify the original input text, which can dynamically changeaspects of the presented Apple.com web site presented in conjunctionwith the frame.

Feature 310 in FIG. 3 represents an eBay bid option. In this case, ifthe user selects this option, the system sends the user to eBay andpresents a screen 410, as shown in the example user interface of FIG.4B, as though the user had gone to eBay.com and entered in “iPhone 5S”into the eBay search field 412. Feature 414 represent a selectablereturned item for an iPhone 5S 32 GB with a current bid at $199. Feature416 is an iPhone 5S 16 GB for $175 and feature 418 represents an iPhone5 16 GB at $150. All of these are examples of the kind of processingthat can occur. As noted above, a “return to one-search” button 420 canalso be included in the screen for easy access back to the one-searchfield. The system can transition to the indicated destination page, suchas the Apple.com, eBay.com, or Amazon.com purchase page for an iPhone 5Sas an overlay, such that returning to the one-search field involvesremoving the overlay instead of a back navigation command to a previouspage.

FIG. 3 also shows an Amazon search 312. When the user chooses thisoption, the system can present a screen as though the user had searchedon Amazon.com for an iPhone 5S. From there, the user could continueshopping and searching as though the user had begun browsing onAmazon.com. The drop down menu can include an option to purchase theproduct directly via Apple.com 314. If the user selects that option, andassuming that there is not a “one-click” purchase option at Apple.com,the user is brought to the point where they can, in very fewinteractions, complete the purchase. For instance, the system can bringthe user to a shopping cart showing the product ready to be purchased.In one option, the system brings the user to the point of seeing theproduct and being able to place the product (iPhone 5S) into a shoppingcart. In another aspect, the system could navigate the shopping cartmodel on behalf of the user and complete the purchase, thereby makingthe transaction a one-click purchase.

FIG. 3 also shows another embodiment of this disclosure. In this case,because the “drop down” menus include different types of data, theoptions can include a “drop down” menu as well as a “drop up” menu. Thepurchase options could be dropped “up” as shown in features 316 and 318,while all of the search options or more traditional options can bedropped “down.” The system can present menus to the left, right,diagonal, or in any direction, orientation, or angle as desired.Separating the purchasing options from search-type options can alsoreduce the number of inadvertent purchases. In this example, the dropdown menus of FIG. 3 could only include features 304, 308, 310 and 312as these involve further searching. The system can position items 306and 314 in “drop up” menus 318 and 316, respectively. The algorithm canpredict the most likely search if the user desired a search and the mostlikely purchase if the user were to desire to purchase the item andposition those as the first option down and the first option up in themenus. The user could use the arrow buttons on a keyboard or a touchscreen to select the desired options. Alternatively, the drop down ordrop up menus can indicate shortcut keys which the user can press toselect the options without using the mouse. For example, the menu canindicate that the user can press alt-1, alt-2, or alt-3 to select thevarious drop up menu options, or ctrl-1, ctrl-2, or ctrl-3, or someother single key or key combination to select the various drop down menuoptions. The system can present auto-complete options which the user canactivate using similar keyboard shortcuts. For example, if the user hastyped “iPhone,” the system can indicate that pressing “S64” after“iPhone” would autocomplete to “iPhone 5S 64 GB.” The types andquantities of such autocomplete keyboard shortcuts can vary widelydepending on the determined intent of the user, as well as attributes ofthe product as the system understands it up to that point. Voiceactivity or gesture input or any other type of input can enable the userto select a desired option.

In some cases, the system can determine that the data in the searchfield is not intended for a purchase. For example, if the user entersthe text “South Dakota,” the system can identify that the user does notdesire to make a purchase. The “drop down” menu in that case couldsimply list the traditional search options, or could list options toone-click purchase items related to South Dakota, such as a South Dakotat-shirt or a souvenir of Mount Rushmore.

The user can also add hints or shorthand instructions in the searchfield to guide purchase options presented in a one-search.com field. Forexample, the user can provide the text “buy amaz iPhone 5S.” These hintstell the algorithm that the user desires a purchase function, and thatthe desired merchant is Amazon. Based on these types of hints, thesystem can eliminate features 304, 308, 310, 312 and 314 from the dropdown menus shown in FIG. 3. In that case, the user could just hit“return” and the most likely desired product will be automaticallypurchased and processed for shipment. Options to cancel or modify ofcourse can be presented, such as the cancel purchase button 404 andmodify purchase button 408 shown in FIG. 4.

In one embodiment, the unified input field is part of an applicationdownloadable or installable on a smartphone, tablet, or other mobilecomputing device. The functionality could also apply to a unified searchfield on a website. The application can be customizable as can anywebsite disclosed herein. The application includes a single input fieldthat is generic to multiple different types of processing. For example,the application can present an input field with a number of differentoptions, such as a Skype or telephone call. The field therefore can beused to input a search for a contact. The user could type in the field“mom” and then select the Skype® video conference option, or theFaceTime® option. The system processes the input field according to theappropriate context by extending a video conferencing request or makinga phone call. It is important to note that the unified field conceptdisclosed herein is not limited to the processing of the user inputbeing related to web searches or purchases. Other functionality can beimplemented from the unified field. Phone calls, video conferencing,triggering of any sensor on a smartphone, taking a picture, sending atext, etc. Several examples if these features follow. In the unifiedfield, the user may input the text: “Mark S., are we getting togetherfor lunch?” The user may then select the processing option of “texting,”chatting in an online chat room, or posting the comment on a socialmedia website, and so forth.

Having disclosed some basic system components and concepts, thedisclosure now turns to the exemplary method embodiment shown in FIG. 5.For the sake of clarity, the method is described in terms of anexemplary system 700 as shown in FIG. 7 configured to practice themethod. The steps outlined herein are exemplary and can be implementedin any combination thereof, including combinations that exclude, add, ormodify certain steps.

FIG. 5 illustrates a general method embodiment. The system receives userinput (502). The system can access a product database in processing theuser input (504). For example, if a new product just came out and isavailable for purchase on-line, the system can access that informationso that when a user enters “iPhone 5S” that the system can match thatinput with a product. The system analyzes the input (506) for adetermination of the user intent. For example, if the user enters “RhodeIsland” the system can calculate a very low likelihood that the userdesires to purchase Rhode Island. User profile, user search andpurchasing history, and any other data can be used by the algorithm todetermine how to structure an extendible menu to enable the user toquickly make a choice of what they desire. However, as the user entersadditional text, the system can update autocomplete options accordingly.For example, if the user enters “Rhode Island cookbook,” the system can,at some point, determine that the user is not likely interested in thestate, but in a cookbook, which is a purchasable item. The system canthen adapt the autocomplete options automatically as the user continuesto enter additional text.

FIG. 5 next shows analyzing the input (506) using all this data andinformation and constructing a menu (508) or a presentation of variousoptions. This construction can also include a marketing aspect ascompanies may pay for how the option is presented. Amazon.com, or aproduct manufacturer, can pay a small fee to present their product withgraphics or multimedia content, if it appears that the user may desireto buy that product, in order to encourage the user to select thatoption to purchase the product. The system presents the menu or otherstructured presentation of options for the user to choose (510). Theoptions include one or more purchasing options (512) when the user inputindicates via the algorithm that a purchase may be desired.

In another aspect, a classifier can process the user input in thegeneral unified search field. The classifier can be trained to determinethe intent of the user and to select which websites or applications toprovide in response to the input. Classification algorithms are oftenused in processing speech or phone calls. For example, someclassification features can process and classify calls in various calltypes like local, international, voicemail, conference, etc. In somecases, as a user calls an interactive voice response system, aclassifier can be trained using previous calls to process the user inputto conclude that the user wants to talk to accounting or pay a bill. Forexample, the user might say in the call “I want to pay a bill” or “Ineed help with my account.” By classifying that input, the system canroute the call to the right person, destination, or entity.

Technologies that are used for classification include statistics, datamining, pattern recognition, machine learning, and in some cases neuralcomputation and artificial intelligence. A general classification systemapproach involves receiving input, preprocessing the input, segmentingand labeling the input, extracting features from the input,post-processing, and ultimately classifying the input to arrive at adecision. While these principles have been applied in many fields, thesetechnologies can be applied to a new classification domain. The newclassification domain is the context or intent of a unified input fieldsuch as on a browser in which the user provides input, and that inputcan be applied to many different websites, applications, or actions.Right now, when a person goes to google.com, the assumption is that theuser wants to search the internet. When a user goes to Amazon.com, theuser wants to buy something. The user must go to different websites forthese different functions, requiring additional, unnecessary mouseclicks. This disclosure provides, in one respect, the introduction of aclassifier that processes user input in a field on a website where thereis no assumption that the user wants to search or buy a product. Theclassifier will determine via a classification decision what the intentof the user is.

In order to train the classifier, which is called herein an ‘intentclassifier’, the system can monitor the web usage of a user for a periodof time. The classifier can utilize data of one user or multiple users.For example, one could generate training data of input at a google inputfield compared to input in an amazon.com input field for people of aparticular demographic, such as 20-30 year old men, or women or aparticular minority or religious group. The training data preferablywould be particular in some respects to the individual user. If a useris logged into a browser such that it can connect to that user'straining data or relevant training data, then the system can moreefficiently process the user input in the unified input field. Thesystem can use supervised learning (or unsupervised or semi-supervisedlearning) to label the training set so that the training data canprovide which class (i.e., search, purchase, Wikipedia, etc.) the inputbelongs to. The training data involves the input provided via a searchfield as opposed to a purchase field. Other fields can apply as wellsuch as auctions, medical advice, twitter input text, Facebook inputtext, or any other social networking input text and so forth. Thegeneral concept is that there is no assumption when the user inputs datainto the field regarding what the desired function is.

Other data that can be useful for the training model is personal userinformation. For example, if the user is registered for making one-clickpurchases at amazon.com, then when the user types in “Android 4.4KitKat”, the system will know that the shortest number of clicks andcomputer interactions possible for the person to complete a purchase ofthe most popular smartphone with Android 4.4 is through Amazon.com.Otherwise, the user might be sent to another website and have to gothrough the shopping cart model, enter their credit card, and take a lotof extra time and effort to complete the purchase. Thus, knowing thatthe user is registered at one or two purchasing websites (thus enablinga quick “one-click” purchase) can drive the result of theclassification.

In another example, the classifier in this case can have classificationtypes of search, browse, purchase now, play game, update software, sendemail, send tweet, check Facebook, make call via Skype, and so forth.Some of the classification data for a trained model can be drawn fromthe different types of input that are used in input fields betweengoogle.com, amazon.com, Wikipedia.com, and so forth. The system fortraining the classifier can look at the different types of input inconnection with which website is being used and develops training data.In other cases, if a user types in “call mom”, such input would not beprovided in an input field because normally the user would go to theSkype App or other calling app and choose his mother to make the call.Thus, in other cases, training may occur in a different way to capturethat “command” type of input. However, since there is no assumption ofthe desired intent of the input at the start, such training can be usedto enable the user to perform a host of functions starting at one inputfield.

The user can in this case also provide hints as to the desired input. Itmight be quicker for the user to type “buy” before “iPhone 5S” so thatthe entire input is “buy iPhone 5S” than moving one's hand to the mouseand moving the mouse to click on an amazon.com tab in a browser or on anicon, or typing “www.amazon.com” in an input field for URL's. Clearly,the suggestion to buy tells the classifier that a purchase is theintent. Currently, typing in “buy iPhone 5S” is still considered via asearching algorithm in which search results are provided. The system canshow sponsored advertisements which enable the user to go to anadvertisement or promotional page for the iPhone 5S, but those stilltake additional clicks to get to the point of actually being able tomake a purchase. Further, the system can still present the results on awebpage (google.com) that does not enable the user to complete apurchase/delivery within one click.

Therefore, the classification algorithm according to this disclosure canutilize training data which includes different kinds of input that theuser or similar users have provided via input fields on various webpages to determine an intent describing which web page the user desiresto open, or which action the user desires to perform on the web page.The system can user other data to make the determination, such as timeof day, time of the year, social media data like birthdays of friends,holidays, weather information, which websites the user had madepurchases on and with which website the has previously registered, etc.

For example, the classifier might determine that the user wants to makea purchase. The classifier can make a basic determination of an intentto search or an intent to make a purchase. Then the classifier can takea secondary step to determine based on history, user profile,registrations, best price, closest outlet to the user's address, etc.,at which merchant the user likely wants to make the purchase. If theuser has an account set up at amazon.com, then the system may chooseamazon as the primary likely destination and take the appropriate step.For example, the system can create a new tab with the input termpre-entered at amazon.com, or where the user can open the tab and be atthe state in the amazon.com website where the user can just click the“one-click purchase” button to complete the purchase. The system canpresent the new page in a new tab, within the same page as the unifiedinput field, or in some other fashion.

The system can, instead of a more traditional menu, present the optionsin a completely different form, such as a tag field. FIG. 6 illustratesoptions in which parameters associated with each selectable option arechosen based on relevance. For example, the system can select and modifypositioning, size, shape, color, detail, of the items in the tag fieldfor various options. Feature 602 is an Amazon one-click purchase.Feature 604 is a Google search and feature 606 is an eBay search. In atag cloud or word cloud, the size, shape, color, and other details ofthe items can provide information about the items. In this example, theAmazon one-click purchase 602 is listed in a large font, in bold, and inclose proximity to the search field 302. The large font can indicatethat the system has determined that it is highly relevant to the textentered in the search field. The bold font can indicate that clickingthe item will trigger a purchase. The eBay search 606 is similarlylarge, potentially indicating that it is also highly relevant, but notbold because there is no one-click purchase associated with that item606. The Google search 604 is presented to the side, in a smaller font,indicating that is may be of lesser relevance or importance. The variousdetails of these items can vary in a smooth, animated fashion as theuser enters additional information in the search field 302. For example,as the user enters more information about the specific desired iPhone,the system can adjust the Amazon 602 option on the user interface togradually increase in size, move closer to the search field, be drawnwith thicker lines, and so forth. The system can provide these detailsas an animation for the user so that increasingly relevant items arepresented in increasingly discoverable places or increasinglyprominently.

FIG. 6 illustrates various options of how to structure and present theselectable options from a one-search input field. In one aspect,traditional drop down options can be presented in a normal fashion withpurchasing options presented like feature 602 in FIG. 6 thus providing afurther differentiation of which items are standard drop down menu,auto-complete type options and which ones are one-click purchasing typeoptions. The system can, in the tag field or in other embodiments,present targeted advertising. For example, in FIG. 6, the user couldhave entered “buy Amazon iPhone 5S.” This would result in a highlikelihood or probability that the user wants to buy that product viaAmazon, thus causing the system to present feature 602 showing thatoption in a large font and close to the input field 302. In other words,like tag clouds which make larger words of higher usage or interest in astory or from cloud input. Feature 604 could represent a paid-foradvertisement from a competitor who may offer a cheaper price for thesame product. Such information could be presented as part of an icon oradvertisement represented as feature 604.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example method embodiment. In this embodiment, thesystem can present an input field on a user interface of a website(802). Then the system can receive user input from a user in the inputfield (804), such as text entered via a keyboard or speech input in atext field. Then the system can present a set of options, each optionbeing presented outside of the input field and being associated withprocessing the user input as though the user had entered the user inputinto a third-party website input field (806). Then the system receives auser selection of a chosen option of the set of options (808), andprocesses the user input according to the chosen option (810).

A description of a basic general-purpose system or computing device inFIG. 7 which can be employed to practice the concepts, methods, andtechniques disclosed is illustrated. With reference to FIG. 7, anexemplary system and/or computing device 700 includes a processing unit(CPU or processor) 720 and a system bus 710 that couples various systemcomponents including the system memory 730 such as read only memory(ROM) 740 and random access memory (RAM) 750 to the processor 720. Thesystem 700 can include a cache 722 of high-speed memory connecteddirectly with, in close proximity to, or integrated as part of theprocessor 720. The system 700 copies data from the memory 730 and/or thestorage device 760 to the cache 722 for quick access by the processor720. In this way, the cache provides a performance boost that avoidsprocessor 720 delays while waiting for data. These and other modules cancontrol or be configured to control the processor 720 to perform variousoperations or actions. Other system memory 730 may be available for useas well. The memory 730 can include multiple different types of memorywith different performance characteristics. It can be appreciated thatthe disclosure may operate on a computing device 700 with more than oneprocessor 720 or on a group or cluster of computing devices networkedtogether to provide greater processing capability. The processor 720 caninclude any general purpose processor and a hardware module or softwaremodule, such as module 1 762, module 2 764, and module 3 766 stored instorage device 760, configured to control the processor 720 as well as aspecial-purpose processor where software instructions are incorporatedinto the processor. The processor 720 may be a self-contained computingsystem, containing multiple cores or processors, a bus, memorycontroller, cache, etc. A multi-core processor may be symmetric orasymmetric. The processor 720 can include multiple processors, such as asystem having multiple, physically separate processors in differentsockets, or a system having multiple processor cores on a singlephysical chip. Similarly, the processor 720 can include multipledistributed processors located in multiple separate computing devices,but working together such as via a communications network. Multipleprocessors or processor cores can share resources such as memory 730 orthe cache 722, or can operate using independent resources. The processor720 can include one or more of a state machine, an application specificintegrated circuit (ASIC), or a programmable gate array (PGA) includinga field PGA.

The system bus 710 may be any of several types of bus structuresincluding a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and alocal bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. A basicinput/output (BIOS) stored in ROM 740 or the like, may provide the basicroutine that helps to transfer information between elements within thecomputing device 700, such as during start-up. The computing device 700further includes storage devices 760 or computer-readable storage mediasuch as a hard disk drive, a magnetic disk drive, an optical disk drive,tape drive, solid-state drive, RAM drive, removable storage devices, aredundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID), hybrid storage device, orthe like. The storage device 760 can include software modules 762, 764,766 for controlling the processor 720. The system 700 can include otherhardware or software modules. The storage device 760 is connected to thesystem bus 710 by a drive interface. The drives and the associatedcomputer-readable storage devices provide nonvolatile storage ofcomputer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules andother data for the computing device 700. In one aspect, a hardwaremodule that performs a particular function includes the softwarecomponent stored in a tangible computer-readable storage device inconnection with the necessary hardware components, such as the processor720, bus 710, display 770, and so forth, to carry out a particularfunction. In another aspect, the system can use a processor andcomputer-readable storage device to store instructions which, whenexecuted by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations, amethod or other specific actions. The basic components and appropriatevariations can be modified depending on the type of device, such aswhether the device 700 is a small, handheld computing device, a desktopcomputer, or a computer server. When the processor 720 executesinstructions to perform “operations”, the processor 720 can perform theoperations directly and/or facilitate, direct, or cooperate with anotherdevice or component to perform the operations.

Although the exemplary embodiment(s) described herein employs the harddisk 760, other types of computer-readable storage devices which canstore data that are accessible by a computer, such as magneticcassettes, flash memory cards, digital versatile disks (DVDs),cartridges, random access memories (RAMs) 750, read only memory (ROM)740, a cable containing a bit stream and the like, may also be used inthe exemplary operating environment. Tangible computer-readable storagemedia, computer-readable storage devices, or computer-readable memorydevices, expressly exclude media such as transitory waves, energy,carrier signals, electromagnetic waves, and signals per se.

To enable user interaction with the computing device 700, an inputdevice 790 represents any number of input mechanisms, such as amicrophone for speech, a touch-sensitive screen for gesture or graphicalinput, keyboard, mouse, motion input, speech and so forth. An outputdevice 770 can also be one or more of a number of output mechanismsknown to those of skill in the art. In some instances, multimodalsystems enable a user to provide multiple types of input to communicatewith the computing device 700. The communications interface 780generally governs and manages the user input and system output. There isno restriction on operating on any particular hardware arrangement andtherefore the basic hardware depicted may easily be substituted forimproved hardware or firmware arrangements as they are developed.

For clarity of explanation, the illustrative system embodiment ispresented as including individual functional blocks including functionalblocks labeled as a “processor” or processor 720. The functions theseblocks represent may be provided through the use of either shared ordedicated hardware, including, but not limited to, hardware capable ofexecuting software and hardware, such as a processor 720, that ispurpose-built to operate as an equivalent to software executing on ageneral purpose processor. For example the functions of one or moreprocessors presented in FIG. 7 may be provided by a single sharedprocessor or multiple processors. (Use of the term “processor” shouldnot be construed to refer exclusively to hardware capable of executingsoftware.) Illustrative embodiments may include microprocessor and/ordigital signal processor (DSP) hardware, read-only memory (ROM) 740 forstoring software performing the operations described below, and randomaccess memory (RAM) 750 for storing results. Very large scaleintegration (VLSI) hardware embodiments, as well as custom VLSIcircuitry in combination with a general purpose DSP circuit, may also beprovided.

The logical operations of the various embodiments are implemented as:(1) a sequence of computer implemented steps, operations, or proceduresrunning on a programmable circuit within a general use computer, (2) asequence of computer implemented steps, operations, or proceduresrunning on a specific-use programmable circuit; and/or (3)interconnected machine modules or program engines within theprogrammable circuits. The system 700 shown in FIG. 7 can practice allor part of the recited methods, can be a part of the recited systems,and/or can operate according to instructions in the recited tangiblecomputer-readable storage devices. Such logical operations can beimplemented as modules configured to control the processor 720 toperform particular functions according to the programming of the module.For example, FIG. 7 illustrates three modules Mod1 762, Mod2 764 andMod3 766 which are modules configured to control the processor 720.These modules may be stored on the storage device 760 and loaded intoRAM 750 or memory 730 at runtime or may be stored in othercomputer-readable memory locations.

One or more parts of the example computing device 700, up to andincluding the entire computing device 700, can be virtualized. Forexample, a virtual processor can be a software object that executesaccording to a particular instruction set, even when a physicalprocessor of the same type as the virtual processor is unavailable. Avirtualization layer or a virtual “host” can enable virtualizedcomponents of one or more different computing devices or device types bytranslating virtualized operations to actual operations. Ultimatelyhowever, virtualized hardware of every type is implemented or executedby some underlying physical hardware. Thus, a virtualization computelayer can operate on top of a physical compute layer. The virtualizationcompute layer can include one or more of a virtual machine, an overlaynetwork, a hypervisor, virtual switching, and any other virtualizationapplication.

The processor 720 can include all types of processors disclosed herein,including a virtual processor. However, when referring to a virtualprocessor, the processor 720 includes the software components associatedwith executing the virtual processor in a virtualization layer andunderlying hardware necessary to execute the virtualization layer. Thesystem 700 can include a physical or virtual processor 720 that receiveinstructions stored in a computer-readable storage device, which causethe processor 720 to perform certain operations. When referring to avirtual processor 720, the system also includes the underlying physicalhardware executing the virtual processor 720.

In each case within this disclosure, reference to “Amazon” orAmazon.com” is broad enough to encompass any purchasing/delivery orecommerce web site, as well as websites for traditional,brick-and-mortar businesses that provide goods or services. Referencesto a “Google” site or search refer to any generalized search engine. Inmany instances, the principles set forth herein may be applicable toother, non-search and non-commerce sites, which the system canmanipulate or traverse in order to accomplish a specific, intendedaction on behalf of the user.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example method embodiment. A system will performthe steps of the method. The system presents an input field on a userinterface of a website (802) and receives user input from a user in theinput field (804). The system analyzes the input to determine whetherthe user wanted a search, to make a purchase, to perform some otherfunction such as making a call, or watching a video, and so forth. Thesystem presents a set of options, each option of the set of optionsbeing presented outside of the input field and being associated withprocessing the user input as though the user had entered the user inputinto a third-party website input field (806). FIGS. 2 and 3 provideexamples of presenting the set of options for processing. A component ofthis approach is that the input field is not pre-designated orpre-designed to process the input in one particular context, but theinput field is open to a variety of ways of processing the input, thusreducing the number if clicks necessary to navigator from one website toanother to input data. The system receives a user selection of a chosenoption of the set of options (808) and processes the user inputaccording to the chosen option (810).

A first option of the set of options can be associated with a searchengine and a second option of the set of options is associated with apurchase-processing engine. If the chosen option is the second optionand associated with a purchase-processing engine, then the system willidentify in item associated with the user input and process a purchaseof the item and delivery of the item to the user. If the chosen optionis the first option and associated with a search engine, then the systemprocesses the user input to perform a search associated with the userinput and returns search results. The method can also includeidentifying respective types for the set of options and presenting theset of options in groups based on the respective types.

The user input can include at least one of text input, multimodal input,gesture input, or voice input, or any combination thereof. The user canhave a pre-existing account storing preferences governing how the set ofoptions are presented.

Executing an Action Based on Input Directed to a User InterfaceIntegrated from Another Source

FIG. 9 illustrates a user interface associated with an embodiment. Inthis example user interface, the user enters the text “iPhone 5S” into aunified input field 902. The browser communicates the text to aone-search server that returns navigation destinations. The web browsercan render “tears” 904, 908 in the page that appear to be holes in theinterface peering into underlying other pages. The tears have twoposition considerations, the position of the tears in the host page, andthe view of the tears onto the destination page. The system can considerboth of these positions when determining the location and size of thetears to present. The user can click on the tear to navigate to thatdestination website. In that case, the tear can transition in the samemanner as a click on a link to navigate to a different page, or canpresent an animated transition, such as expanding the boundaries of thetear until the tear completely replaces the previous page. The tears caninclude various controls 906, 910, 914 fitted along an edge of therespective tear so a user can manipulate the tear to move, maximize 906a, expand 906 b, 910 b, preview 910 c, 906 d, close 910 a, go to thepage 906 c, or perform some other action on the tear. Further, the usercan directly manipulate exposed user interface elements shown in thetear, such as the one-click purchase button 905 or the view shoppingcart button 907. Some tears can show other non-web actions, such as aview into a Skype application to make a call. The system can positiontears that are a closer match to an intent determined from the textentered in the unified input field so the more important tears arecloser to the mouse cursor 916 or to the unified input field, forexample. The system can expand a tear dynamically as a mouse 916 movescloser to the tear, and shrink the tear as the mouse 916 moves fartheraway. The tear edges can be any shape, including standard geometricshapes, or can have more complex edges that are sharp or smooth, or thatare dynamic and can change based on various factors.

In a touch-based interface, a user can use touch gestures to manipulatethe tears. For example, the user can tap and hold on a tear to beginmoving the tear around on the page. The user can swipe to move the viewof the page in the tear, or pinch to zoom on a page displayed in thetear. A user can double tap on a tear to navigate to the page displayedin the tear. The system can display content in the tears at a same zoomfactor as the host page, or can shrink the content displayed in thetears to display a broader view of the content.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example method embodiment for executing an actionbased on input directed to a user interface integrated from anothersource. In this example, a system performing the method receives userinput in a unified input field (1002). The system analyzes the userinput to yield an analysis (1004). The system dynamically presents,based on the analysis, at least one tear revealing at least a portion ofunderlying user interface from a separate site or application, theunderlying user interface integrating the user input (1006). The systemreceives a control input from the user for performing a functionassociated with the tear (1008). The system can then carry out thefunction (1010).

Modifiable Entry Button

A system, method and computer-readable storage devices are disclosedwhich dynamically morph or adapt the search button associated with aunified input field based on an intent determined via a classifier andbased on text provided to the unified input field. Typically a unifiedinput field has two main components: a text input field, and a searchbutton to execute a search based on input provided via the text inputfield. The search button is typically labeled with the text “search” or“go” or something similarly generic. However, as the user enters asearch term, the system can identify some other, more specific action,and can modify the search button to not only display different adifferent text or graphical label, but can also modify the actionassociated with the button accordingly. Additionally, the system canexpand the single search button into multiple buttons.

For example, the user enters the text “Apple.” At that point, theclassifier does not determine that the text string “Apple” issufficiently tied to a specific action or item to modify the label onthe search button. So the search button remains unchanged. The usercontinues to enter the text “Apple iPhone.” At this point the classifieridentifies, based on the additional text, that several specific items oractions are likely, but too many of the items or actions are availableor none are above a certainty threshold to modify the search button. Theuser continues on to enter the text “Apple iPhone 5S,” at which pointthe classifier identifies a model of iPhone, the 5S. Then, based on userpreferences or on other available data, the classifier can identify aspecific variant of the iPhone 5S, such as a gold 64 GB iPhone 5S. Thus,the system can modify the label of the search button to no longer say“search,” but instead to say “Purchase iPhone 5S, 64 GB, Gold.” The usercan, at that point, simply hit enter on the keyboard to execute thataction and purchase the indicated iPhone 5S.

As an alternative to modifying the search button, the system cangenerate and present additional buttons next to the search button. Thesystem can provide an indication that different keys or key combinationswill activate the different buttons. For example, hitting enter willactivate the functionality associated with the “search” button, whilehitting ctrl-enter will activate the functionality of the “PurchaseiPhone 5S, 64 GB, Gold” button. As the system presents additionalbuttons, the user can also click on the additional buttons to activatetheir various associated actions.

In some cases, the modified button can still require some additionaldisambiguation. For example, the modified button can be labeled“Purchase iPhone 5S, 64 GB.” As the user presses enter to activate themodified button, the system can present an additional dialog or buttonmodification, such as modifying the button to say “Press enter once forGold, twice for Silver, or thrice for Black.” After the user providesthat input, the system can modify the button label to say “Press enteronce to purchase from Apple, twice to purchase from Amazon.” The systemcan modify the button label with these additional messages, or canpresent them at some other location on the page. In this way, the usercan quickly enter the text associated with a desired action or purchase,and select the various options easily and without moving his or herhands back and forth between the keyboard and the mouse, and cannavigate between a disambiguation decision tree using very simple andfamiliar inputs.

If the user makes a mistake or wants to cancel the selection, the usercan simply hit backspace to delete characters in the entered text, whichwould potentially change the context, and trigger a reset of themodified button and corresponding action or actions. If the user made amistake and wants to back out of the selection, he or she can simply hitthe escape key or provide some keyboard, mouse, or other inputindicating to the system to go back.

The system can learn the behavior patterns and preferences of the userand adapt accordingly, so that, over time, the system can require lessand less input from the user to accurately determine or classify theuser's intent. For example, the system can know which items the user hasalready purchased, which items the user has discussed with friends orfamily, which gift-giving events are coming up soon, and so forth. Basedon all these data points, the classifier can make more accurate guessesregarding the user's possible or likely intent.

In a mobile device, which does not have a mouse and a keyboard, butinstead is typically equipped with a touch sensitive screen or a stylus,the approaches set forth above may be modified. For example, instead ofmodifying a button in a traditional desktop style search field andsearch button pair, a mobile variation of the system can provide asearch field for the user to enter text via an on-screen virtualkeyboard, voice input, or some other input approach. As the user inputstext, the system can present a list of one-click actions in a drop downmanner from the search field. While some of the one-click actions may beimplementing a search in the traditional manner, other one-click actionsmay include navigating to a specific stage in a website, such as thestage in Amazon.com where the user is already logged in and simply hasto execute the “one click” to purchase, or placing a bid on eBay, or atthe final check-out phase of an online merchant's shopping cart with adesired item already added to the shopping cart. The user can dismissone-click actions in the list by swiping them off the screen.

FIG. 11 illustrates a method embodiment. The steps in the methodembodiment can be performed in any order, can be performed in othercombinations or permutations that include additional steps or excludeall or part of some of the described steps. The system can present in auser interface an input field and a button that morphs between a firstmode of searching and a second mode of performing a one-click purchaseand delivery based on input from the user in the input field, the buttonperforming its respective function based on the user pressing an enterkey (1102). The user interface, while receiving the input, can presentdisambiguation information indicating to the user what key entry isneeded to disambiguate the item to be purchased, and wherein uponreceiving the key entry from the user such that a confidence level inthe item desired to be purchased meets a threshold, the button can morphinto the second mode. The first mode of the button can be a default modefor the button.

The system can analyze the input from the user into the input field todetermine whether the user desires to perform a search or to make apurchase to yield a determination (1104). If the determination indicatesthat the user desires to make a purchase, then the system can set thebutton in the second mode and present data about an item that will bepurchased and delivered according to a registered account of the userwithout further input from the user other than pressing the enter key(1106). The system can manage the entire process of buying anddelivering an item by processing a payment for the item from theregistered account associated with the input field entity andcoordinating the delivery of the item through a business partnermerchant. The item can be a product or a service. The system can selectthe item that will be purchased and delivered based on a probabilitythat the item is a most likely item that the user desires to purchasebased on the input. For example, a classifier can determine theprobabilities and the items based on a user history of purchases, a userhistory of searches, a time of day, a time of year, social media data,information about holidays, user profile data, and/or user accountbalance information.

FIG. 12A illustrates a user interface 1200 with a generalized inputfield 1202 and a morphable search button 1204. The search button 1204 isreally a generalized function button. The system can instruct the user1206 to input a query or other input. The difference in this approach isthat the function performed by hitting the “search” button will differdepending on the user input. This will be explained in stepping throughthe figures. FIG. 12B shows input in the interface 1210 starting to beput into the field 1202 of the word “Apple” 1212. The system processesthis input to determine whether to change or modify the functionperformed when the user clicks “search” 1204 or hits the enter button.FIG. 12C illustrates additional input “Apple iPhone” 1222 in the userinterface 1220. The system would continue to process that input andwould be beginning to determine that perhaps the user desires to performthe function of a purchase as opposed to just a Google-type search. FIG.12D illustrates an interface 1230 in which the input as continued to bemore specific to include “Apple iPhone 5s” 1232. At a threshold point inanalyzing the user input, the system reaches a high enough confidencethat a particular function is desired. Here, the system changes thebutton 1204 from “search” to “Purchase iPhone 5s, 64 GB, Gold” 1234.Options not identified in the user input can be inserted into the textsuch that disambiguation can occur as well. But in this instance, thesystem, from a unified, generalized input field (from which searches andpurchases can be made), enables the user to simply press “enter” orclick on button 1204 in FIG. 12D and complete the processing anddelivery of the purchase.

A further interface can include which various buttons are presented forclicking on by the user. Buttons can show different options for the userto make the purchase via “one-click.” If there is still a likelihoodthat the user may simply want to search, then the search button can alsobe made available. One of these can be highlighted in some way toidentify that if the user hits “enter” on the keyboard, that theparticular highlighted button will be the one that will process theinput as a purchase or a search. In this manner, the user can enter theinput data first, and then perform the function, rather than firstnavigating to a website (like Google or Amazon.com), and then enteringthe user input data. Another interface allows the user to give a directhint by typing “purchase iPhone 5S, 64 GB, Gold.” In this case, thesystem could then present options for the user to purchase it throughApple with shipping information, or Amazon with its price and shippinginformation 1256 or through a carrier, for in store pickup. The systemnegotiates the necessary purchasing information (credit card, debitcard, delivery address, etc.) with the various websites so that it ispresented to the user as a one-click purchase in the interface. Thiscurrently is not available to users and they must navigate to theseparate website, like Amazon.com, where they have such informationregistered.

In another example of how the search button can be morphed, in somebrowsers, the input field at the top can be used to either enter a URLor enter a google search. When you start with a search, there is a tagto the right of your typing that indicates what is going on. Forexample, like this: “dentists Dunkirk Md. —google search.” The “googlesearch” language is not what the user types but is an indication thatthe browser is treating the text as a google search. This text of coursecan also be morphed such that as the text being typed is analyzed, theindication to the user of what will happen when “enter” is hit canchange. For example, the user may start typing as see the following:“apple—google search.” However, as the user continues to type, it maychange as follows: “apple iPhone 5s—Amazon search.” As the usercontinued to type and disambiguate, it could result in the following:“apple iPhone 5s 64 GB silver—Amazon one-click purchase.” At this point,the user can hit “enter” and the system coordinates the informationnecessary to identify the product, purchase account information (whichcan be with one entity) and delivery information such that the desiredproduct can be purchased and delivered to the user. Delivery can bemanaged by a second merchant entity from one entity that handles thepayment processing.

FIG. 13 illustrates a smartphone version of a user interface 1300 inwhich the input field 1302 has data 1304 that results in various options1308 presented. A mobile keyboard 1306 is shown as well. Here, theone-search input field 1302 enables the user to put in a generalizedinput and have various “one-click” options 1308 to scroll through toprocess the input. Other user interfaces 1300 of course are contemplatedfor a mobile device or computer. An application and/or backendassociated with the interface 1300 can preprocess purchasing anddelivery information with various websites, vendors, etc. to enable theuser to scan through options 1308 from different sources and just“one-click” from the chosen source. Further, the system can presentpreprocessed input to a stage not quite at a “one-click” stage but at asearch-result stage such that the user can browse and study more beforepurchasing.

Universal Search Application Programming Interface (API)

A system, method and computer-readable storage devices are disclosedwhich replace a URL based on intent determined by a classifier thatprocesses input provided to the unified input field. In a typical websearch, a user clicks to select a search field, enters text, waits forthe results page to load, clicks a desired link in the results page, andfinally arrives at the desired link after waiting for it to load. Thisprocess requires many steps. A unified input field can simplify thisprocess.

For example, one-search.com can provide a unified input field. The userprovides input via the unified input field, such as a search for “iPhone5S.” The system can identify, based on a user profile and on the enteredtext, a most likely desired page, such as a top ranked page in a listingof search results. The system can modify the “search” button associatedwith the unified input field to indicate that pressing enter or clickingthe button would transition the user to that top ranked page from thesearch results without the intermediate steps outlined above. However,if the user enters additional information, such as “iPhone 5S 32 GBSilver,” then the classifier can determine, based on the text and inconjunction with a user profile or search history, that the user'sintent is to purchase the indicated iPhone. In this situation, thesystem can modify the search button to link directly to an Amazon.com orApple.com page as if the user had already navigated there, selected theiPhone 5S, 32 GB, silver, added the iPhone to the cart, and was at anadvanced stage or potentially the final stage in the check-out process.In the case of Amazon.com, the system could modify the button totransition to user to a page ready for the user to make a one-clickpurchase of the indicated iPhone. Alternatively, the system can modifythe button to also include the action of clicking the one-click purchasebutton, so that the user can go to one-search.com, enter the text in theunified input field, and hit enter to purchase through Amazon. In thiscase, hitting enter after entering the text in the unified input fieldcould lead to a purchase summary of the just-executed order, potentiallyallowing the user to modify shipping options, product options, billinginformation, or other order details. In another variation, the systemcan place the order automatically based on the user hitting enter in theunified input field, and transition the user to a webpage for purchasingaccessories, service related to the item purchased, technical supportpages, or some other related web resource.

Thus, the system can immediately transition the user from aone-search.com unified input field to a one-click purchase page onAmazon, for example, when the user hits enter in the unified inputfield. The system could also include the purchase in the transitionaction, so that the purchase is completed based on the user pressingenter in the unified input field. In this regard, one-search.com wouldhandle the purchase but then coordinate with the second entity such asAmazon.com or a merchant to complete the delivery of the item.

The system can present different options or different destinations basedon user input. For example, the system can present a message orindication that pressing “enter” by itself would transition the user toa one-click purchase page for the desired item on Amazon.com, whilepressing “alt-enter” would automatically make the purchase onAmazon.com. The system can present a message to the user stating thatpressing “shift-enter” would transition the user to a pre-populatedshopping cart page on Apple.com, ready for the user to click “submitorder.” Multiple different keys and/or key combinations can triggerdifferent behaviors based on the input in the unified input field.Further, the various actions and key combinations triggering thoseactions can change as the user enters additional text in the unifiedinput field, or modifies text in the unified input field.

The user can establish preferences with the system, such as indicatingthat all purchases default to Amazon.com unless the price difference isgreater than 20% at a different retailer with which the user has anexisting account, or a price difference greater than 30% at a differentretailer with which the user does not have an existing account. In thisway, the system can act intelligently based on rules or policies thatthe user establishes.

The system can transition immediately to the new URL as if the user hadclicked and navigated through a series of pages in a shopping cart,loading each page in turn and entering data automatically on the browserside, or the system can communicate with the target website directly toaccomplish the various sub-tasks associated with selecting an item,adding that item to a cart, entering or selecting shipping and paymentinformation, and so forth, leading up to the final stage where the usersimply clicks “submit order.” One example of such sub-tasks is that theone-search entity can process payment information and coordinatedelivery data to the merchant who will deliver the item. The system canpre-perform all of these steps prior to presenting the page to the userafter the user hits enter in the unified input field.

FIG. 14 illustrates a method embodiment. The steps in the methodembodiment can be performed in any order, can be performed in othercombinations or permutations that include additional steps or excludeall or part of some of the described steps. The system can present, in afirst user interface, a first input field associated with a firstwebsite (1402). The system can analyze the input from the user into thefirst input field to determine whether the user desires to perform asearch or to make a purchase to yield a determination (1404). Thedetermination can indicate that a confidence level that the user desiresto make a purchase has passed a threshold.

If the determination indicates that the user desires to make a purchase,and without any other input from the user other than the input, thesystem can automatically transition the user interface to a secondwebsite in which a second user interface has a second input field(1406). The system can prepopulate the second input field associatedwith the second website with the input (1408). The system can preprocessthe second website using the input in the second input field such thatthe user is in a state after the automatic transitioning where a productassociated with the input can be processed for purchase and delivery viaa one-click action from the user (1410). The system can, for example,transmit user data from one of the first web site and a browser to thesecond web site, or automatically navigate through a shopping cart modelof the second website to yield the state where the product can beprocessed for purchase and delivery via the one-click action. The systemcan automatically transition the user interface to the second website byreplacing the first website in the uniform resource locator field of abrowser with the second website in the uniform resource locator field ofthe browser. The system can further prepare a third website having athird input field preprocessed using the input, wherein the user canprovide a switching input to indicate that the third website should bepresented rather than the second website. In another example, the firstsite can process a payment for the item and coordinate with the secondsite to provide the necessary information for delivery of the item.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example scenario 1500 showing communications viaan application programming interface (API) 1502. A one-search server, aweb server, or some other computing device or computing devices canprovide services accessible via the API 1502. The services provided bythe API 1502 can be accessible from a web server serving pages to webbrowsers or other web clients, or from a web browser, such as through aJavaScript call to the API 1502. In this example, a browser navigates toa first website 1504, and retrieves the data for the first website, suchas HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images, metadata, or other data, from a firstweb site server 1506 without relying on the API 1502. Then, when thebrowser parses the data for the first web site 1504, renders the page,and loads scripts or other executable instructions for the website, oneor more portions of the data are linked to or reference the API 1502.For example, the attributes or instructions associated with a text fieldcan instruct the browser to request search data via the API 1502. TheAPI 1502 handles the complexity of how to handle the request so that thebrowser 1504 does not necessarily know or care which server is handlingthe request, how the data is processed to achieve a result, and soforth. From the perspective of the web browser 1504, data is submittedto the API 1502, and the API provides resulting data or performs aresulting action. In this case, the text field can instruct the browserto submit a request to the API 1502 based on text entered in the textfield. Thus, as the user enters the text “buy iPhone 5S 64 gb,” thebrowser 1504 that has loaded the first website can submit the textstring to the API 1502 character by character, word by word, or at sometime interval (such as 250 milliseconds). Further, as part of the pageloading and rendering process, the browser 1504 can submit user data forthe user or can establish, re-establish, or link to an existing sessionwith the API 1502, so the API 1502 has sufficient context data about theuser to make appropriate decisions. In response to receiving text fromthe web browser 1504, the API 1502 can analyze the data, determine aresponse of one or more action, web browsing destination, desired itemto purchase, and so forth. Then the API 1502 can cull the list of one ormore actions to an N best list, which can be based on the type of deviceor browser the user is using. For example, on a mobile device withlimited screen space the N best list can be limited to 3 actions ordestinations, while on a desktop or laptop computer with more amplescreen space the N best list can be limited to 10 actions ordestinations. As part of determining the best actions or destinations,the API 1502 can communicate with a second website 1508. If the actionis a one-click purchase action with the second website 1508, the API1502 can, on behalf of the user or the browser 1504, negotiate with thesecond web site 1508 to navigate to the appropriate location at thesecond website 1508, populate the appropriate data fields automatically,create an account (if necessary) or log in to an account for the user,and so forth. The API 1502 can handle all of these tasks automaticallyin response to an API request, and pass that information back to thebrowser at the first website 1510, which presents these possibledestinations or actions to the user. If the user selects the destinationor action associated with the second website, the browser can thendirectly continue the session with the second website 1508 that the API1502 created or modified. In this way, the API 1502 can coordinatebetween web sites and automatically enter user data in response to APIcalls and pre-navigate to various actions or destinations on behalf ofthe user so they are ready for the user to select and open.

An example method of applying the use of the API is as follows. A methodincludes presenting an input field on a user interface, wherein theinput field is associated with processing data using a generalizedsearch engine that indexes and searches both merchant websites andnon-merchant websites, receiving input from a user in the input field toyield user input, and receiving an interaction associated with the userinput indicating that the generalized search engine should process theuser input. When the user input is determined to indicate a searchintent, the method includes presenting a search result comprising anon-merchant website and receiving a search interaction associated withthe non-merchant website and transitioning the user to the non-merchantwebsite. When the user input is determined to indicate a purchaseintent, the method includes receiving, via an application programminginterface, data associated with item from a merchant site, the itembeing selected based on the user input, presenting a purchase-relatedsearch result comprising a buy now option associated with the item,receiving a user interaction associated with the buy now option and,based on the user interaction, processing a payment for the item viastored payment information for the user at the generalized search engineto yield purchasing data. The method can then include communicating thepurchasing data via the application programming interface to themerchant site, whereby the merchant site can manage delivery of the itemto the user.

From the merchant side, the process is as follows: A method includesestablishing, from a merchant site, communication between the merchantsite and a generalized search entity via a communication interface or anapplication programming interface. The generalized search entityoperates to present an input field on user interface, wherein the inputfield is associated with processing data using a generalized searchengine that indexes and searches both merchant sites and non-merchantsites. The generalized search entity receives user input in the inputfield. When the user input indicates a search intent, the generalizedsearch entity presents a search result comprising a non-merchant site,receives a search interaction associated with the non-merchant site andtransitions the user to the non-merchant site. When the user inputindicates a purchase intent, the generalized search entity presents apurchase-related search result including a buy option associated withthe user input, the search result including an item offered from themerchant site. The generalized search entity receives a purchaseinteraction associated with the buy option. THe merchant side of theprocess is as follows. When the user input indicates the purchaseintent, the method includes, receiving, via the communication interfaceand at the merchant site, payment information from the generalizedsearch entity, the payment information associated with the purchaseinteraction for the item and processing deliver of the item via themerchant site. In this manner, the merchant site or application cancommunicate and receive communications via the application programminginterface or communication interface to achieve the presentation and asale of one of its items.

It is also noted that while FIG. 15 illustrates websites communicatingvia an API, that the API could also enable communication between twoapplications on a device, or could cause communication between a websiteand an application on a device. The API is meant to be the means of twodifferent entities, each of which have different purposes or means ofinterfacing with users, such that coordination between the two entitiescan be facilitated.

Social Networking Applications

Twitter

Another aspect of this example is how the concepts apply to socialnetworking applications such as Twitter, mentioned above. Twitter is asocial networking application or service in which users can send andread short messages, usually equal to or less than 140 characters.Registered users can post “tweets” which are transmitted through thenetwork to followers. Users can post images and videos as well.Unregistered users can read tweets. Users access the service through awebsite, a mobile device application or through some other application.An example of the concepts disclosed herein applying to a social networklike Twitter are as follows. A method can include presenting an inputfield on a user interface of a social networking site, wherein the inputfield is associated with processing data for social networking withinthe social networking site. The social networking site, in the case ofTwitter, can transmit short 140 character or less text-based messagesfrom senders to followers. Images or videos can also be transmittedthrough this site with metadata pointing to or referencing a product. Inthe case of an image or video, metadata can be associated with the imageor video that references the product database and triggers theprocessing and presentation of a buy option. This would apply to aTwitter account, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and so forth. Thegeneral approach in these examples is described below in FIG. 29 and itsassociated discussion.

Usually, users input data into an input field and the data (text,pictures, and/or video, etc.) is transmitted to followers of that user.The method can include presenting an input field or mechanism through asocial networking site and receiving text-based user input in the inputfield and determining whether the text-based user input is associatedwith a product database of products for sale from a merchant using thetext-based user input to yield a first determination. This can be donethrough a link or analysis of the user input. In this regard, forexample, a twitter user can input text into a tweet and the system willanalyze that text to determine whether the input references a productdatabase and thus can be associated with a sale, advertisement, purchaseor other intent. If the user input does not reference a productdatabase, then the system can determine that the user input is not salerelated but merely to be transmitted through the social networkingsystem. In other words, the user may just be providing a normal tweet tothe system which is distributed or transmitted in the normal fashionthrough the social networking site according to a first intent (a normaltweet intent to share information with followers).

However, when the determination indicates that the user has referenced aparticular product database, and thus the sale-related intent, themethod includes transmitting the text-based user input through thesocial networking site with a buy option associated with the text-baseduser input. In this case, for example, the text input can provide a linkto the product database or a service that indicates an intent to send anadvertisement, or to buy a product, or to sell a product. If the intentis a sale or purchase-related intent, then in additional to justtransmitting the tweet through the social network, the system cancoordinate and present a buy button associated with the text input. Muchlike the Google example disclosed herein, the social networking site ora service associated with the social networking site can store userpayment processing information thus only requiring a user to input suchinformation once. Thus, a recipient of the tweet will not only see atleast some text of the tweet but will see a buy button and the systemcan receive a purchase interaction associated with the buy option. Thesystem would then process the purchase of in item associated with thetweet. Through an API, as is noted herein, the purchase can be processed(by the social networking site) and delivery can be managed by themerchant as coordinate through the API. This process will increaseconversion of sales through social networking. In each case where“text-based input” is mentioned herein, an alternate approach can be toreceive an image or a video with metadata which provides the informationnecessary to access the product database and the processing continues ina similar manner. Of course similar approaches can be used through anysocial networking site like Facebook and others.

Another aspect is handling buy options through a social networking sitefrom the standpoint of the merchant who is selling products. In thisaspect, a method can include establishing, from a merchant,communication between the merchant and a social networking site thatprocesses and transmits short messages of 140 characters or less withinthe social networking site. An API can be established through which suchcommunication can occur. The social networking site presents an inputfield on a user interface, receives textual user input in the inputfield, and determines whether the textual user input is associated witha product database of products for sale from the merchant using thetext-based user input to yield a determination. For example, a URL canbe placed within a tweet that access a database of products and themerchant can have products offered through that database.

When the determination indicates that there is no reference in thetextual user input to the product database, the social networking sitetransmits the textual user input through the social networking site inthe normal fashion, such as sending the tweet or posting the Facebookpost. When the determination indicates that the textual user inputreferences the product database of products for sale, and thusindicating a sale-related intent, the site transmits the textual userinput through the social networking site with a buy option for an itemassociated with the textual user input. Thus, those reading or receivinga tweet or a posting will see a buy option associated with that item.Recipients can have their payment information stored through the socialnetworking site or another service like Apple Pay or Paypal such thatproducts from all different merchants that are offered through thisservice can be purchased without needing to be transferred to thatmerchant for inputting payment information, etc. The merchant thenreceives an indication that a purchase interaction associated with thebuy option was received (i.e., a recipient clicked on the buy button)and processes a delivery of the item to a person who provided thepurchase interaction or processing the delivery based on the purchaseinteraction. The social networking site can then make a payment to themerchant for the item. The social networking site, or its agent, mayalso charge a small fee for processing the sale. Determining whether thetextual user input is associated with the product database of productsfor sale from the merchant using the textual user input comprisescommunicating or correlating between the social networking site and theproduct database via an application programming interface. Processingdelivery of the item can include receiving information from the socialnetworking site that payment for the item is complete and receivinginformation that the merchant selling the item through an applicationprogramming interface is to ship the item to the person.

An example of the Twitter embodiment relates to the processing from themerchant standpoint. In this case, the merchant posts a short message of140 characters or less within an input field on a user interface of asocial networking site. The social networking site receives text-baseduser input in the input field and determines whether the text-based userinput is associated with a product database of products for sale from amerchant using the text-based user input to yield a determination. Whenthe determination indicates that there is no reference to the productdatabase, the social networking site transmits the text-based user inputthrough the social networking site. When the determination indicatesthat the text-based user input references the product database ofproducts for sale, and thus indicating a sale-related intent, the socialnetworking site transmits the text-based user input through the socialnetworking site with a buy option associated with the text-based userinput, receives a purchase interaction associated with the buy option,and processes a purchase of an item based on the purchase interaction.The merchant then receives, at the posting entity, purchase dataindicating that the item has been purchased. Thus, the merchant, throughan API, will receive notice that a recipient has made a purchase of theitem, and that the merchant should ship the item.

In another aspect, the method can include presenting an input field on auser interface of a social networking site, wherein the input field isassociated with processing and transmitting short messages of 140characters or less within the social networking site, receiving userinput comprising at least user text in the input field, and determiningwhether text based on the user input correlates to a product in adatabase of products for sale by a merchant to yield a correlation. Whenthere is not a product that correlates to the text, the method includestransmitting the user input through the social networking site. Whenthere is a product that correlates to the text, and thus indicating asale-related intent, the method includes transmitting the user inputthrough the social networking site with a buy option associated with theuser input, receiving a purchase interaction associated with the buyoption and processing a purchase of an item based on the purchaseinteraction.

Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Youtube

Of course similar approaches can be used through any social networkingsite like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Youtube, and others. In eachcase, the determining of whether a sale or purchase related intent isassociated with a posting can involve analyzing the input (often textbut it does not necessarily require text and can include an image likein Pinterest) for a reference to a product or service that can bepurchased by recipients of the posting through the respective site. Ifthe analysis does not yield any reference to such a product or aservice, found often in a database of products/services, then therespective site simply transmits or posts the sender data (Tweet,Facebook posting, pictures on Instagram, Pinterest, etc.) through thesocial networking site without any buy now option. The site in that caseprocesses the input in the conventional manner. In other word, thedetermination that does not necessarily require a parameter to be set ora specific result stored in memory. For example, if the tweet does notinclude a URL pointing to a product database, and the system isanalyzing the input for such data, the absence of the reference to theproduct database can in and of itself be the determination that therewill not be a buy now option presented through the social networkingsite for that posting. When the input includes a reference to a productdatabase, the site can implement unconventional processing in which abuy button is presented to recipients or viewers of whatever results thesite presents by processing the user input. The site includes additionalcoding and processing to enable the user to either purchase an itemwhile still in the site or easily transition to a merchant site at adeep-link to enable quick and easy purchase of the product, or tocontinue shopping at the merchant site. For example, if a picture of ared hammer is presented with an associated buy button, the site, whenthe user clicks on the red hammer picture, can be transitioned to a deeplink with the merchant site as though the user had searched for a redhammer and was ready to make a purchase. Upon being transitioned to thedeep link, the user in this case can easily simply purchase the hammeror put it into a shopping cart and continue shopping or continueprocessing the purchase on the merchant site.

In a social networking case such as Instagram or Pinterest where imagesare posted from a posting entity to a group of recipients, the processcan operate as follows. A method includes receiving a posting of animage through a social networking site, wherein the social networkingsite receives and transmits posted images from a posting entity toreceiving entities. A system can analyze the image for associatedtext-based data or metadata. The text data can be metadata or other datathat provides information about the image and can reference a productdatabase, for example an inventory database, associated with an item inthe image. The system determines whether the associated text-based dataidentifies a product within a product database for sale from the postingentity to yield a determination. For example, the system can determinethat there is inventory for the item in the product database. When thedetermination indicates that there is no reference to the product in theproduct database, the system transmits the image input through thesocial networking site without a buy now button. In this manner, theposting of the image would proceed through the social networking site inthe normal, conventional fashion. When the determination indicates thatthe image references the product in the product database, and thusindicating a purchase or sale-related intent, the system transmits theimage through the social networking site with a buy option associatedwith the image. When the system receives a purchase interactionassociated with the buy option, the system processing a purchase of anitem based on the purchase interaction. This involves implementingadditional code to provide an unconventional series of steps for asocial networking site.

Determining whether the image is associated with the product in theproduct database from the posting entity can include communicatingbetween the social networking site and the product database via anapplication programming interface. The social networking site canprocess the payment and communicate the sale to the posting entity suchas a merchant. The merchant can then deliver the item. Processingdelivery of the item comprises managing a payment for the item andinforming the posting entity selling the item through an applicationprogramming interface to ship the item. A user or merchant can have apre-existing account storing preferences governing how the image and thebuy option are presented. The buy option can include a one-clickpurchasing option, which, because the social networking site stores thepurchase data of the recipient who is making the purchase, can occurwithout the need of moving or transitioning from the social networkingsite to a merchant site to complete the sale.

One embodiment also covers the above process for an image sharing sitefrom the standpoint of the merchant, who can post images on the socialnetworking site that operates as described above. In this case, themerchant posts the images with the text data that points to or accessesa product database such that upon confirmation of a product in theproduct database for sale, the social networking site presents the imagewith the buy button and upon confirming a purchase, informs the merchantof the purchase so that the merchant can process delivery.

With respect to processing from the merchant, side for a buy option in asocial networking site, the method can include posting, by a postingentity such as the merchant, of an image, text or a video through asocial networking site in which users share images, text or videos. Thesocial networking site is typically structured to receive and transmitposted images, text or videos from the posting entity to receivingentities. The social networking site determines, using text data ormetadata associated with the image or the video, whether there is aproduct within a product database for sale from the posting entity toyield a determination. The social networking site can determine whetherthe image or the video is associated with the product in the productdatabase from the posting entity via an application programminginterface between the social networking site and the product database.

When the determination indicates that there is no reference to theproduct in the product database, the site transmits the image or thevideo through the social networking site to the receiving entitieswithout an option to buy a product but performs in the conventionalmanner. When the determination indicates that the image or the videoreferences the product in the product database, and thus indicating asale-related intent, the site transmits the image or the video throughthe social networking site with a buy option and receives data that auser of the social networking site interacted the buy option to yield apurchase interaction. The merchant (posting entity) then processes adelivery of an item based on the purchase interaction. The socialnetworking site can process a payment for the item through its ownmechanism or can use a service like Apple Pay and the like. The postingentity can receive from the social networking site payment data afterthe social networking site processes the payment for the item. When theuser of the social networking site interacts with the purchaseinteraction, the merchant can receive a transition of the user of thesocial networking site from the social networking site at a deep link ona site of the posting entity. This is an optional approach in which thepayment processing can occur outside of the social media site and by themerchant. The social networking site can transition the user to a deeplink within the site of the posting entity in a state in the site of theposting entity in which the user of the social networking site canpurchase the item. In this case, the posting entity can receive apayment of the item from the user of the social networking site.

For example, from the merchant standpoint, the method can includeposting, from a posting entity such as the merchant, an image, text or avideo on a social networking site. The social networking site canreceive and transmit posted items from a posting entity to receivingentities, wherein the posted items comprise at least one of text,images, and videos. The social networking site analyzes the image, textor the video for associated text-based data or metadata and determineswhether the associated text-based data or metadata identifies a productwithin a product database for sale from the posting entity to yield adetermination. When the determination indicates that there is noreference to the product in the product database, the social networkingsite transmits the image, text or the video through the socialnetworking site without an option to buy, in other words in theconventional fashion. When the determination indicates that the image,text or the video references the product in the product database, andthus indicating a sale-related intent, the social networking sitetransmits the image, text or the video through the social networkingsite with a buy option associated with the image or the video andreceives a purchase interaction from a buyer associated with the buyoption. Once the social networking site receives this interaction, thereis a necessity of completing the sale of the product. From the merchantstandpoint, the merchant then receives a transition of the buyer fromthe social networking site to a deep link in the site operated by theposting entity. The merchant processes the purchase and delivery of theitem from the posting entity. In one aspect, the merchant presents tothe user after the transition a deep link within the site of the postingentity in a state in the site of the posting entity in which the user ofthe social networking site can purchase the item. The item presented inthe image, text or video posted on the social networking site can be thesame item purchased. In one aspect, the determining of whether theassociated text-based data identifies the product within a productdatabase for sale from the posting entity to yield a determination isperformed via an application programming interface between the socialnetworking site and the product database.

In another aspect, the method includes receiving a posting of an imageor a video through a social networking site comprising Facebook,identifying data associated with the image or the video and determiningwhether the data identifies a product within a database of products forsale from the posting entity to yield a determination. When thedetermination indicates that there is no reference to the product in theproduct database, the method includes transmitting the image or thevideo input through the social networking site without a buy now button.When the determination indicates that the image or the video referencesthe product in the database of products, and thus indicating asale-related intent, the method includes transmitting the image or thevideo through the social networking site with a buy option associatedwith the image or the video to buy the product, receiving a purchaseinteraction associated with the buy option and processing a purchase ofthe product based on the purchase interaction, wherein processing thepurchase occurs within Facebook.

Facebook, Twitter and any other social networking site can process userinput including text plus optional other input such as a video, an imageor other user input in connecting with a posting. The combination ofuser input can depend on the structure of a particular non-commercesite. For example, Twitter's user input differs from Facebook's userinput. Both involve posts that can include text alone or text plus otheruser input. The respective social networking site will process userinput according to its functioning. An image plus some description ormetadata describing a location or a product in a product database can beinput. The user input in this case can include any combination of userinput according to a non-commerce site that includes a reference to aproduct in a product database that indicates that the posting on socialmedia should include a buy button when the post is processed through thesocial networking site. The posting can be prepared and posted by anindividual user or an automated system depending on the processing ofthe non-commercial site.

Modified Browser Interface

A system, method and computer-readable storage devices are disclosedwhich prepopulate tabs based on intent determined by a classifier thatprocesses input provided to the unified input field. In a typical websearch, a user clicks to select a search field, enters text, waits forthe results page to load, clicks a desired link in the results page, andfinally arrives at the desired link after waiting for it to load. Thisprocess requires many steps. A unified input field that prepopulatestabs in the browser can simplify this process.

For example, one-search.com can provide a unified input field. The userprovides input via the unified input field, such as a search for “iPhone5S.” The system can identify, based on a user profile and on the enteredtext, the n most likely desired pages, such as from a listing of searchresults if the user were to execute a search using the text entered tothat point. The system can then instruct the user's browser to createand populate new tabs in the browser with the n most likely desiredpages. The value for n may vary based on user preferences, already opentabs, how many pages exceed a confidence threshold, available memory,network bandwidth, which pages are ready to be loaded, diversity withinthe pages to be populated in the tabs, and so forth. In one variation,the system can automatically create and populate three new tabs in thebrowser, each with a different likely desired result in response to theinput provided via the unified input field. One tab can be an Amazonone-click purchase page, one tab can be the final page of a populatedshopping cart at Apple.com, and one tab can be the final page of aservice contract for purchasing the iPhone 5S with a 2 year servicecontract through AT&T. In this way, the user can automatically select,browse, and compare the tabs to determine which one he or she desires.At this stage, however, the input data does not necessarily providesufficient information to lead to a specific purchase. Thus, the systemcan select pages like an Apple information page about the iPhone 5S, aWikipedia page about the iPhone 5S, or a popular video review of theiPhone 5S.

However, if the user enters additional information, such as “iPhone 5S32 GB Silver,” then the classifier can determine, based on the text andin conjunction with a user profile or search history, that the user'sintent is to purchase the indicated iPhone. In this situation, thesystem can load purchase-specific tabs in the browser. For example, thesystem can load tabs directly to an Amazon.com or Apple.com page as ifthe user had already navigated there, selected the iPhone 5S, 32 GB,silver, added the iPhone to the cart, and was at an advanced stage orpotentially the final stage in the check-out process. In the case ofAmazon.com, the system could load a tab that is ready for the user tomake a one-click purchase of the indicated iPhone. Alternatively, thesystem can load a tab that automatically performs the actions ofclicking the one-click purchase button, so that the user can go toone-search.com, enter the text in the unified input field, and hit enterto purchase through Amazon, and the resulting purchase page is loaded ina new tab automatically for the user. In this case, hitting enter afterentering the text in the unified input field could cause a new tab to beloaded with a purchase summary of the just-executed order, potentiallyallowing the user to modify shipping options, product options, billinginformation, or other order details. In another variation, the systemcan place the order automatically based on the user hitting enter in theunified input field, and transition the user to a new tab of a webpagefor purchasing accessories, service related to the item purchased,technical support pages, or some other related web resource.

When the user enters a first partial input string in the unified inputfield, the user may click back and forth between one or more tabs topreview the results. Then the user can go back to the tab with theunified input field, and modify or add to the input string. The systemcan remove the previously generated tabs and populate new ones, or thesystem can keep the tabs that the user has opened, looked at,manipulated, or clicked on, for example, while eliminating the otherpreviously generated tabs. In this way, the user can select which tabsto keep and which tabs the system is free to remove or replace based onthe updated input string.

The system can predictively retrieve and cache potential matching pagesfor inserting into new tabs based on what the user is typing. Forexample, if the user is typing “Apple” in the unified search field, thesystem can retrieve pages of the three most popular Apple products orthe three Apple products in which the user is most likely to beinterested. Then, as the user types “Apple iP”, the system can narrowthe search to products that match the partial string, such as AppleiPods, iPhones, and iPads. Items such as the MacBook Air or the Apple TVwould not be included, as they do not match the partial input string inthe unified input field. The process can continue refining the cachedpages, thereby saving time so the pages are ready to present to the userwhen a certain event occurs or a threshold is met. For example, in onevariation, the system can wait for the user to press enter in theunified input field to populate the new tabs, even though the system ispreparing, retrieving, and caching pages in advance of the user pressingenter. In this way, when the user presses enter in the unified searchfield, the system can very quickly create new tabs and populate the newtabs with the retrieved pages. If any additional pages have not beenpredicted or retrieved, tabs for those pages can load normally, whileothers are ready for the user to view.

In one variation, the system can immediately transition the user fromthe tab displaying the unified input field to a different tab that iscreated in response to input provided via the unified input field. Whilemost browsers allow the user to a mouse to click on the tab, or press akeyboard shortcut such as ctrl-tab, ctrl-shift-tab, ctrl-pgup, orctrl-pgdn to navigate between tabs, the unified input field can allowthe user to press enter or some other key at the end of providing inputvia the unified input field to automatically switch to a newly createdtab populated in response to the input. For example, the system canswitch to a tab of a one-click purchase page on Amazon when the userhits enter in the unified input field. The system could also include thepurchase in the transition action, so that the purchase is completed atAmazon based on the user pressing enter in the unified input field aswell as switching the user to that new tab.

The system can present different options or different destinations basedon user input. For example, the system can present a message orindication that pressing “enter” once would transition the user to afirst new tab, while pressing “enter” twice would automaticallytransition the user to a second new tab, and pressing “enter” thricewould automatically transition the user to a third new tab, and soforth. Multiple different keys and/or key combinations provided via theunified input field can trigger different behaviors for managing ornavigating tabs based on the input provided in the unified input field.Further, the various actions and key combinations triggering thoseactions can change as the user enters additional text in the unifiedinput field, or modifies text in the unified input field.

FIG. 16 illustrates a method embodiment. The steps in the methodembodiment can be performed in any order, can be performed in othercombinations or permutations that include additional steps or excludeall or part of some of the described steps. The system can present in afirst user interface a first input field associated with a first websiteprocessed via a browser (1602).

The system can analyze the input from the user into the first inputfield to determine whether the user desires to perform a search or tomake a purchase to yield a determination (1604). If the determinationindicates that the user desires to make a purchase, and without anyother input from the user other than the input, the system canprepopulate a second input field associated with a second website withthe input (1606). The system can preprocess the second website using theinput in the second input field such that the user is in a state afterthe automatic transitioning where a product associated with the inputcan be processed for purchase and delivery via a one-click action fromthe user (1608). The system can preprocess the second web site bytransmitting user data from one of the first web site and a browser tothe second website. The system can preprocess the second website byautomatically navigating through a shopping cart model of the secondwebsite to yield the state where the product can be processed forpurchase and delivery via the one-click action. The processing caninclude that when the user interacts with the interface to make apurchase, the entity associated with the input field processes a paymentof an item and coordinates with a separate merchant for delivery.

The system can present the second website in a tab in the browser(1610). The system can present a visual notification to the userassociated with the tab that clicking on that tab will present to theuser the second website in the state in which the user can process forpurchase and delivery the product via the one-click action. The visualnotification can be a popup, an indication on the first website, abrowser-specific notification associated with the tab, or in some otherlocation in the user interface. The system can present multipleadditional websites in additional tabs in the browser, and can provide amechanism, via the unified input field, to manipulate or navigatethrough those tabs independently of the established keyboard shortcutsand mouse clicks inherent in the browser. For example, the system canpreprocess a third website using the input in a third input field suchthat the user is in a state after the automatic transitioning where aproduct associated with the input can be processed for purchase anddelivery via a one-click action from the user, and presenting the thirdwebsite in a second tab in the browser.

FIG. 17A illustrates an interface 1700 having a tab 1702 with an inputfield 1704 and user input 1706. This input field 1704 is open ended oropen loop in that it does not automatically process the user input as asearch but can process the input to perform a number of differentfunctions. Assume the user inputs “iPhone 5S.” The system analyzes thatinput and determines that there is a high likelihood that the userdesires to make a purchase. The system then preprocesses that input onone or more website, such as Amazon.com and Apple.com, such that each ofthese alternate websites are positioned in a state which is theequivalent of the user having navigated to that website, and entered“iPhone 5S” and continued to browse and navigate to a state in which onemore click causes a purchase and delivery of the product. Thus, in FIG.17B, the system can present a tab 1710 for Amazon and a tab 1712 forApple. The user can continue to type further text such as “32 GB Silver”1708. The system continues to refine the preprocessing of the alternatewebsites. Thus, after the user is done, if the user clicks on the Amazontab 1710, that tab will reveal a preprocessed search in a “one-click”state such that the next click can enable the user to buy and havedelivered that product. Where websites like Apple don't have a similar“one-click” option, the system can navigate and preprocess a shoppingcart model to essentially cause the tab 1712 to present the shoppingcart, ready in a state where the user just needs one more click to makethe purchase. The browser or one-search.com application can, via an APIcommunicating with the alternate website, provide the purchasing accountdata, delivery address, passwords, etc. necessary to navigate in thebackground through the purchasing pages of a website that does not haveone-click purchasing capability. The API may only need to communicatenecessary data for completing a transaction if one-search.com handlesthe processing of the payment for the item. In this manner, merchantscan easily communicate with one-search.com through the API for delivery.

The positioning of the tabs can be based on history, personalpreferences, likelihood of intent, and so forth. For example, if theuser typically purchases items through Amazon.com, then that tab will bepresented 1710 next to the current tab 1702. The probability of a searchintent over a purchasing intent may be equivalent, and thus a Google orYahoo! Search may be presented in tabs next to a purchasing option. Thetabs may also give hints as to how deep the preprocessing went. Forexample, one tab may say “Amazon search” and another may say “Amazonone-click” indicating to the user, that clicking on the Amazon searchtab means that the “state” of that tab is that the user input has beenpreprocessed such that, as in a normal Amazon search, a list of items isreturned for browsing but that the state is not a “one-click” state inwhich the user could do just one more click to complete a purchase anddelivery. The depth of the preprocessing can also be performed based onhow much disambiguation is needed. If the user does not provide enoughdata, then only search-level states may be provided. If there are onlytwo options such as two colors to choose from on an item, and the userdid not specify a color, the system could present in a tab, twodifferent items, each having a “one-click” purchasing button, such thatthe tab is still in a one-click purchasing state, but two items arepresented on the page such that no further navigation is necessary. Thesystem could present a gold “one-click” option and a silver “one-click”option for purchase.

In a typical web search, a user clicks to select a search field, enterstext, waits for the results page to load, clicks a desired link in theresults page, and finally arrives at the desired link after waiting forit to load. If the user desires to continue and make a purchase, thenthe user must either log in with an existing account or create a newaccount with the website, place the item in a virtual shopping cart,check out, provide shipping information, and so forth. This processrequires many steps. A unified input field that prepopulates a shoppingcart for the user can greatly simplify this process.

Pre-Populating a Merchant Shopping Cart

A system, method and computer-readable storage devices are disclosedwhich prepopulate a shopping cart in an online vendor's web site basedon intent determined by a classifier that processes input provided tothe unified input field. A user can be registered with and/or logged inwith his or her browser, such as Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, orOpera, such that user's purchasing credit/debit card or other accountsand delivery addresses are stored in a user profile. Then, if the userdesires to make a purchase through a destination website that may have aproduct not found on their registered website, the browser (or systemprocessing in a network) can handle negotiation between the browser andthe website such that the system can convert a shopping-cart based modelwebsite with which the user is not registered into a “one-click”purchasing experience for the user. For example, the system can handlethe payment for the item and communicate with the merchant site tohandle delivery.

Assuming that appropriate permissions are in place, such as in a browsersetting authorizing the browser to navigate and provide input in a website's purchasing, registration, or shopping cart process toautomatically input name, address, credit card information, etc., thesystem can automatically populate a shopping cart, including evenregistering on behalf of the user at a website with which the user hasnot registered. The user provides input in a unified input field, suchas “buy acme toaster 4.5” which the system and the classifier categorizeas a desire to make a purchase of a particular toaster model. The systemdetermines, based on various criteria such as pricing, shipping,country, and so forth, a merchant website that offers that toastermodel. The user has never registered or made a purchase at the merchantweb site offering the toaster for sale. Thus, if the user were to buythe toaster from that merchant website, the user would have to place thetoaster in a virtual shopping cart, then enter personal information suchas address, credit/debit card information, user name, password, and soforth to have the item shipped.

In this model, the system can identify the merchant website based on theinput provided via the unified input field. Then the system can navigateto the state in the merchant website where the user would normally clickto place the item in the shopping cart. In this case, however, thesystem will navigate the merchant website where the item can be placedin the shopping cart, and determine that the user is not registered withthis merchant website. Then the system can automatically communicatewith the merchant website, such as via a new user registration page, tocreate a new account on behalf of the user using the user data availableto the system and/or to the browser. Thus, the system can present to theuser just the confirmation in a button to purchase via one click. Theconfirmation can be a double confirmation of authorization to create anew account and authorization to then place the order using the newaccount. The user can automatically authorize new registrations and canestablish settings or preferences governing new profile registrations.The system can then enter all the necessary data, retrieved from thebrowser or some other location, to complete the registration and causethe item to be purchased and shipped without the need of further userinput. This approach can turn non-one-click purchasing websites intoone-click purchasing websites, via input through the unified inputfield. The system can also use the registered payment information toprocess the payment as well and coordinate with the merchant site forfilling the order.

The system can process the new registration pages silently, such as in abackground tab or new window in the browser, or can negotiate the newregistration process with the merchant website without presenting theregistration page to the user at all. The system can present a progressbar on the same page containing the unified input field after the userrequests a purchase, such as by pressing enter after providing input viathe unified input field. The progress bar can indicate to the user theprogress of creating a new account, entering shipping data, adding theitem to the cart of the merchant website, and placing the order.

The user can establish default preferences for which personalinformation to use for new registrations. The user can establish thesedefault preferences in advance of encountering the merchant website, oreven in advance of encountering the unified input field. Alternatively,at the first instance where a registration is required, the system canprompt the user to establish such settings and/or provide additionalinformation.

The system can prefer merchant websites with which the user already hasan account or with which the user is already registered. For example, ifMerchant X and Merchant Y both offer the same item for sale, the systemcan choose to use the one of these two merchants where the user alreadyhas an account. The system can determine this by examining a browserhistory, profile data available to the browser, or cookies stored by thebrowser or by other browsers associated with the user. The system canintelligently determine when to use a merchant with which the user isnot registered, such as based on a difference in shipping time, or adifference in price. For example, if the merchant with whom the user isnot registered offers the desired item at a price that is at least 25%lower than the merchant with whom the user is registered, then thesystem can create a new account. If the user does not desire to have thesystem create user accounts on his or her behalf, the user can instructthe system to make purchases where he or she already has accounts, or atmerchant websites which allow guest accounts.

However, the system can identify, using the classifier and user profiledata, the merchants the user is most likely to select, and present themto the user for disambiguation. The system can present to the user atable, such as by a JavaScript popup, showing merchants, shipping times,and total price including shipping and tax. The user can simply click ona desired merchant from the table, and the system can automaticallyregister the user with that merchant if necessary, and process the orderwith that merchant. The user only has to make one click to identify themerchant, and the system handles the rest of the steps, therebyproviding a one-click interface into a non-one-click website via theunified input field.

FIG. 18 illustrates a method embodiment. The steps in the methodembodiment can be performed in any order, can be performed in othercombinations or permutations that include additional steps or excludeall or part of some of the described steps. The system can present in afirst user interface a first input field associated with a first websiteprocessed via a browser (1802), and analyze the input from the user intothe first input field to determine whether the user desires to perform asearch or to make a purchase to yield a determination (1804). If thedetermination indicates that the user desires to make a purchase, andwithout any other input from the user other than the input, the systemcan transition the user from the first website to a second website thatcan process the purchase of a product via a shopping cart model (1806).The system can prepopulate a second input field associated with a secondwebsite with the input (1808).

The system can preprocess the second website using the input in thesecond input field such that the user is in a state after the automatictransitioning where a product associated with the input can be processedfor purchase and delivery via a one-click action from the user (1810).Preprocessing the second website can include transmitting user data fromone of the first website and a browser to the second website, orautomatically navigating through the shopping cart model of the secondwebsite to yield the state where the product can be processed forpurchase and delivery via the one-click action. The system can furtherpreprocess a third website using the input in a third input field suchthat the user is in a state after the automatic transitioning where aproduct associated with the input can be processed for purchase anddelivery via a one-click action from the user, and present the thirdwebsite as an option for the user to choose in the browser.

The preprocessing can be according to a user profile with variouspreferences. For example, in a user profile associated with the firstwebsite, or with a browser. The user profile can utilize informationsuch as payment account data, delivery data, preferences such as not toclick on receiving any email notifications, and any other possiblechoices that can be made in processing a shopping cart model. Theapplication, browser, or website, via an API, can then communicate inthe background can perform all of those navigations and input necessaryso that such input can be automatically handled to the extent that theuser is presented with the second website in a state where they areready to “one-click” and make the final purchase and delivery. The APIcan include all of the information necessary for the second web sitethat is necessary the fill in and enter all of the necessary data tofinalize the purchase. For example, the first site can process a paymentand the second site can finalize the order by filling it and handlingdelivery. The first website or browser or application can hold allpossible information that various shopping cart models can and dorequest in processing the purchase. As a particular second website ischosen as the one to which or through which the user is likely to make apurchase from. The first website or browser establishes via an API aconnection to the second website with the various information necessaryfor preprocessing the input. The data such as the user input identifyingthe product that they want to buy and any other generated data thathelps to narrow down and disambiguate which product to present forpurchase via a one-click input. For example, the user may input “iPhone5S 32 GB” but not a color. The system can choose a most popular colorand provide that data to the second website to enable a narrowing downof which model to present. The system can also present secondary optionssuch that alternate choices can be easily made accessible via the secondwebsite for potential selection if the primary choice is the wrong coloror is not the desired product to buy.

FIG. 19 illustrates an example architecture 1900 for pre-populating amerchant shopping cart. In this example, a user 1902 of a computingdevice 1904 running a web browser 1906 loads a web page with a unifiedinput field. The unified input field communicates with a server 1910 viaan API 1912. As the user 1902 enters data in the unified input field,the browser 1906 sends the data, via the API 1912, to the server 1910.The server 1910 can analyze the data to identify that the intent of theuser 1902 is to make a purchase, based on the data entered in theunified input field. The server 1910 can identify a merchant website1916 that sells the desired item, and communicate with that merchantwebsite 1916 via its associated API 1918, if available. If an API is notavailable, the server 1910 can communicate with the merchant website1916 via HTTP and can navigate through the website in an automatedfashion as if a user were clicking or entering data on the merchantwebsite 1916. The server 1910 can use a network-based database 1914 ofpayment and delivery data or other personal data about the user 1902 topopulate data fields at the merchant website 1916. However, if anetwork-based database 1914 is incomplete or does not exist, the server1910 can, via the API 1912, request data from a database of payment anddelivery data 1908 local to the browser 1906 or to the computing device1904. The server 1910 can continuously receive additional data enteredby the user in the unified input field via, and update or modify dataentered at the merchant website 1916, products selected for purchase atthe merchant website 1916, or even switch to a different merchantwebsite altogether. The server 1910 can transmit a response to thebrowser 1906, via the API 1912, so the browser 1906 can present actionsor destinations to the user 1902 based on the data entered in theunified input field. Then, if the user selects one of the actions ordestinations, the browser 1906 can navigate to that page and communicatewith the merchant website 1916 directly, or without the server 1910,although the server 1910 may continue to communicate with the browser1906 to track behavior of the user 1902 at the merchant website 1916.For instance, the server 1910 may track eventual purchase detailsreferred through the unified input field. The server 1910 can update thenetwork-based payment and delivery data 1914 from time to time based oninformation processed from the local payment and delivery data 1908, orbased on user input.

FIG. 20 illustrates example user interfaces for a pre-populated merchantshopping cart. In the first user interface 2000, the user has enteredthe text “Buy ACME toaster 4.5” in the unified input field 2002 of a webpage in a browser. After hitting enter or clicking a search button, thebrowser communicates with a server that has already navigated to (or iscurrently in the process of navigating to) a merchant website topopulate the shopping cart at the merchant web site with the desiredtoaster. The server can hand off that browsing session to the browser tocontinue at a specific point in the checkout or shopping cart process,or can return a URL to the browser that is formed to go directly to ashopping cart that is populated based on the text entered in the unifiedinput field. In this case, after hitting enter or clicking a searchbutton, the browser navigates directly and automatically to a merchantwebsite 2004 listing the item already placed in the shopping cart, orderdetails, and a one-click purchase button 2008. Alternatively, thebrowser can navigate to a stage where the order has already been placed,such as the page that would load after the user clicks the purchasebutton 2008. The system can populate other details of the shopping cartautomatically on behalf of the user, as well. The system can even createa new account at the merchant on behalf of the user, if the user doesnot have an account with that merchant. In this way, the system enablesa user to access websites, through a unified search field, as if theywere one-click purchase merchant websites, even if the user has notpreviously registered with that merchant or if the merchant does notoffer an “Amazon style” one-click purchase interface. For example, thefirst website entity associated with offering the generalized inputfield can process the payment for an item based on payment accountinformation it stores and coordinate with the merchant on finalizingdelivery of the item.

Determining Whether User Input is a Generalized Non-Purchasing Query ora Query with Intent to Purchase

A system, method and computer-readable storage devices are disclosedwhich enable any input field in a website or in some othercomputer-based user interface to act as a unified input field. A unifiedinput field allows a user to provide input that can lead not only to alisting of search results, but can cause any of a number of otheractions to be performed on behalf of the user, such as directlynavigating to a merchant shopping cart prepopulated with a desired item,or even automatically executing a purchase and placing an order for adesired item. Using such a unified input field can save significanttime, effort, and clicks for a user. However, such unified input fieldsmay not be implemented in every website or other user interface the userdesires. The user may become accustomed to a particular workflow or setof capabilities when dealing with unified input fields, and may feelrestricted or limited when using a traditional limited input field.

In one embodiment, if the user is directed from a unified input fieldenabled site such as one-search.com to Apple.com, then that user'sinteraction with Apple.com could be modified such that the search fieldof Apple.com (or any website, such as Google.com or Amazon.com) becomeslike a one-search.com unified input field. For example, a JavaScriptscript or browser plugin can intercept text entered into text fields onnon-unified input field enabled sites or non-unified input fields, andredirect that input to one-search.com to implement these features andpresent the autocomplete options, and the one-click purchase options. Inother words, the options to do any number of different processingoptions outside of the particular website can be made available to theuser. In this manner, any search field, text field, or input field canbe adapted to be a unified input field as disclosed herein. Of course,all of the functionality disclosed herein could be built into any searchor input field on any website, application, or user interface.

Functionality of the browser can be modified directly or via a plug-in,script, or extension, to implement a unified input field in place of anexisting input field. The user can activate the input field enhancer,such as by checking a checkbox in a menu, clicking a button, logging inwith a username and password, or providing some other user identifyingcredentials. The input field enhancer can then identify the user, andretrieve personal data about the user, such as a profile stored in abrowser cache or a profile stored on a server. The system can identifyuser preferences from the profile data, which may provide rules orpreferences for when and how to modify certain input fields to beunified input fields. For example, a user profile may indicate not tomodify input fields on craigslist.org, but to modify input fieldseverywhere else. Another user profile may indicate to modify all textinput fields located within the top 10% of a website. Another userprofile may indicate not to modify text input fields on mobile devicessuch as smartphones and tablets, but to modify text input fields ondesktop or laptop computers. The user can log in to a user profile thatis stored on a server, so that the user's preferences and other personaldata are not limited to one local machine, but instead are accessiblefrom any such enabled machine. Thus, the user can log in to a browser ona work computer to enable unified input fields and can do the same on ahome computer, while using the same personal profile, preferences, andhistory. This personal information can be important for a classifierwhen determining intent based on a relatively short input string, andcan provide a sense of consistency for the user when unified inputfields behave similarly across multiple devices.

The enhancer can be triggered when a new page is loaded in the browser,or when the page is refreshed or updated, such as by an Ajax call thatdynamically loads or modifies page elements. The enhancer can operate inconjunction with a rendering engine or web browser engine to identifyinput fields while rendering the page. In this variation, the enhancercan modify the code for a page as the page is being parsed and/orrendered. The enhancer can operate as a post-loading operation that goesback and revises an already loaded and rendered page. In either way, theenhancer modifies the functionality of an identified input field tocapture and redirect the input to a local or remote server to providesimilar or the same functionality as a unified input field. Then, theserver can communicate with the browser to implement the variousbenefits and functionalities of the unified input field, such aspresenting previews of one-click purchase actions as tears on thewebpage, as new tabs or windows, expose such one-click purchase actionsvia the “search” button or some other button, and so forth.

The system can mark an input field or present some kind of visual oraudible indication that the input field has been modified or enabled asa unified input field. For example, when the system detects a standardtext input field, such as the search field at the top of ebay.com, thesystem can determine whether that standard text input field is suitablefor repurposing as a unified input field. If the system makes a positivedetermination, then the system can modify the standard text inputfield's functionality as well as its appearance. For example, the systemcan render a different color border around the text field, or can make anoise when focus moves on to or in the text input field or when a mouseor text cursor enters the text field. The system can apply a change insize, font, appearance, or even introduce an animation highlighting themodified text field. User preferences can also dictate how the systemhighlights the modified text field.

Then, when the user enters text into the modified text field, the systemcan process the input via the classifier to determine an intent, andgenerate one or more actions which can be taken based on the intent. Insome cases, if the classifier is unable to determine an intent above acertainty threshold, then the system may not present any actions basedon the input, and may choose to wait for additional input which maychange the intent and/or the certainty threshold. How the systemdetermines to present the one-click actions based on the determinedintent may vary based on the browser displaying the page, or the layoutof the page hosting the modified text field. For example, if the textfield has sufficient adjacent white space, the system can renderone-click buttons proximate to the text field for performing the variousactions. The system can present drop down menus with one-click actionsas part of the browser, outside the rendered web page containing themodified text field. The system can use JavaScript to modify orrearrange certain page elements to temporarily or permanently (for thelife the page as rendered) temporarily accommodate user interfaceelements for the one-click actions. The system can use JavaScript tooverlay new user interface elements on top of the rendered page forproviding access to the one-click actions. In one embodiment, the systempresents user interface elements that look like “tears” that peekthrough the rendered page to show a portion of a page that appears to bebeneath the rendered page.

However, even when a text field has been modified, the system can stillpreserve the original functionality of an input field, while extendingthe input field to also act as a unified input field. For example, theuser can toggle between the modified functionality and the originalfunctionality by pressing shift in the beginning of the input field. Thesystem can also toggle the appearance of the modified input field toindicate to which function of the modified input field the user isdirecting input.

The system can identify text fields which are candidates to be modified,but can leave them untouched until receiving some user command or inputrequesting the unified input field functionality. For example, thesystem can provide access to unified input field functionality, upon theuser activating or requesting the functionality by pressing a key or keycombination, or double clicking in the input field. The user can, inthis manner, toggle between different functionalities for the inputfield. This can be beneficial to avoid breaking some websites that relyon specific functionality of the input field. However, the system canoverlay the unified input functionality over the existing, originalfunctionality of the input field, without hindering its operation. Forexample, the system can implement the unified input field one-clickactions in a different region of the user interface, while allowing theoriginal functionality to proceed unchanged. Or the system canincorporate the original functionality as one of the one-click actionspresented via the unified input functionality. For example, if the userentered the text “iPhone 5C 32 GB yellow” in a modified input field oneBay.com, the system can generate a set of buttons overlaid on top ofthe page via JavaScript: a first one-click action button for purchasingthe indicated iPhone 5C via Amazon.com, a second one-click action buttonfor purchasing the indicated iPhone 5C via Apple.com, a third one-clickaction button for purchasing the indicated iPhone 5C viaattwireless.com, and a fourth one-click action button for implementingthe original input field functionality of executing a search of auctionson eBay.com.

The system can further adapt the functionality of the unified inputfield based on the detected type of browser or available space on theinterface. For instance, the system can present a user interface that isconsistent with the look and feel of the page hosting the modified inputfield. If the page hosting the modified input field has advertisements,the system can position the one-click action buttons or other userinterface elements in such a way to avoid obscuring thoseadvertisements. This setting can be dictated by code or settings in thepage hosting the modified input field, such as a token or instructionintended to guide the behavior of a modified input field.

In one embodiment, a website can pre-modify an input field by making itunified input field aware. In cases when the website detects that theuser does not participate in or use unified input fields, the inputfield can retain its original functionality. However, when the websitedetects that the user does participate in or uses unified input fields,such as by detecting a cookie in the user's browser, the website canpreemptively modify or activate the unified input field to provide amore familiar interface for that user. The website can interact with aserver for managing such unified input field requests via an establishedapplication programming interface (API).

FIG. 21 illustrates a method embodiment. The steps in the methodembodiment can be performed in any order, can be performed in othercombinations or permutations that include additional steps or excludeall or part of some of the described steps. The system can present in afirst user interface a first input field associated with a first websiteprocessed via a browser, the first website being a purchasing website inwhich a user searches for products to purchase (2102). The system cananalyze the input from the user into the first input field to determinewhether the user desires to perform a generalized search or to make apurchase to yield a determination (2104). An example of a generalizedsearch is one that a person might do on Google.com. For example, theuser might search using the term “North Dakota.” In that case, they arelooking for information on that state. However, if the user is at theURL for Amazon.com, entering in “North Dakota” would not necessarilymean that they desire to make a real estate purchase of the entirestate. That user input has a strong indication that they do not want tomake a purchase but rather to perform a generalized search in contrastto searching for products to purchase on Amazon.com. If thedetermination indicates that the user desires to perform a search, andwithout any other input from the user other than the input, the systemcan transition, at least in part, the user from the first website to asecond website that can process the search (2106). Transitioning theuser from the first website to a second website can include presentingthe second website via a tear in the first user interface revealing atleast a portion of the second web site. Then the user can provide anindication through the tear that the user desires to navigate to thesecond website, and based on the indication, the system can navigate theuser to the second website. The system can select a position of the tearin the first website based on an analysis of a structure of the firstwebsite. The system can prepopulate a second input field associated witha second website with the input (2108), and can preprocess the secondwebsite using the input in the second input field such that the user isin a state of viewing selectable search results after the transitioning(2110).

FIG. 22 illustrates some of the basic components 2200 of thisembodiment. An application like a browser 2202 or smartphone app canhave an enhancer 2204 which is a module or a component that cancommunicate with a database of user preferences 2212 for helping toimprove the processing of input via any input field. The browser 2202can communicate via a network 2206 with a web server 2208 which servesup a website or application such as amazon.com. The browser and/orenhancer 2204 can also communicate with a unified input field server2210 via a network 2206. This unified input field server 2210 can alsocommunicate with the database of user preferences 2212 as instructed bythe browser 2202 to tailor the processing of user input accordingly.Using this approach, the system can process and turn any input fieldserved up from any web server 2208, into a unified input field by virtueof connecting the processing to the unified input field server 2210. Inthis manner, while the user may be on a website such as Amazon.com,which has input fields that typically expect items of purchase, and thatinput field can be turned into a more unified input field for jumping toother places and performing other functions as well. Thus, utilizes theconnection to the unified input field server 2210, that amazon.com inputfield can become the jumping off point for a generalized search, a phonecall, a Skype-type call, a video conference, or any other purpose whichcan be achieved through a more flexible and open input field processingapproach as disclosed herein.

Searching Via an Application-Based Portal Rather than a Website

FIG. 23 illustrates a method embodiment. This embodiment focuses more onapplications communication one with another rather than websites. Thebasic concepts are similar, however. For example, a user having a tabletor a smartphone may have an application for performing searches. This isdifferent from a browser on the device that enables the user to just toa search engine URL. The application, which again can be anything suchas a search app, or a Skype or FaceTime app, a banking application, etc.Any application of a first type can have an input field. The point hereis to turn that input field which traditionally is associated with aparticular purpose of the application, into a more generalized inputfield that can process the input and determine whether the user shouldautomatically be transitioned to another app. Switching between abrowser and an application is also possible. For example, the user couldbe on a smartphone using a browser application with the URL positionedon www.google.com. The user, however, may enter in a product into thesearch field. The system (locally, on a server, or via processing usinga combination of both) determines that the user desires to make apurchase based on the input. The system could automatically launch anAmazon.com application (rather than transitioning to amazon.com via thebrowser), pre-negotiate such that the input and the “state” of theamazon.com application is positioned using the input to either presentsearch results as though the user had already launched the applicationand search, or could position the application in a “one-click” statewhere the user simply makes the purchase.

A method includes receiving input from a user via a unified input fieldassociated with a first application of a first type (2302) and analyzingthe input to determine whether a process to be carried out on the inputshould be processed by a second application of a second type to yield adetermination, wherein the first type and the second type are differenttypes (2304). If the determination indicates that to carry out theintent of the user according to the input, the second application shouldprocess the input, then the system communicates with the secondapplication information including the input, wherein the secondapplication is started and preprocessed using the input to yield thesecond application in a processed state (2306). Finally, the systempresents the second application to the user in the processed state(2308).

The presenting occurs without any additional input from the user tonavigate to the second application. Communicating with the secondapplication can further include communicating at least one of thefollowing to the second application: user identification information,payment account information, delivery address information, and userpreferences. As noted above, the process can involve switching betweenbrowsers at particular websites to apps on a smartphone or tablet, orother device. An application in this case is generally known. It is asoftware product purchased or downloaded for free that performstypically a single general purpose like enabling purchases throughAmazon, or handling video and audio calls like Skype. Such applicationsof course differ from the URL which can be associated with the samecompany but provide different mechanisms of accessing the services ofthat company.

The first application and the second application are one of smartphoneapplications and tablet applications. Again, in another aspect, thisdisclosure provides a description of switching between a URL (website)and an application. The system can automatically close the firstapplication and start and present the second application in theprocessed state on a user interface. This enables the user to avoid theprocess of closing one app and manually launching the desiredapplication. In one example, the first type is a search type and thesecond type is a product purchasing type. The first type can, forexample, be a type not associated with purchasing products and thesecond type can be associated with purchasing products. This provides anexample of switching between contexts, types, applications purpose andso forth, but while using a single input field. This approach reducesthe interactions necessary for a user to get a function performed(search, purchase, delivery, call, etc.) because it eliminates the needto navigate to a separate URL or a separate application that performsthe desired function. In example, the first application can process apayment for an item and coordinate with the second application fordelivery of the item to a buyer.

Selecting a Transition Type Between Search Interfaces

FIG. 24 illustrates a method embodiment. This embodiment focuses onchoosing the mode of transitioning from one interface to another. Amethod includes receiving input from a user via a unified input field ona first application that enables multiple different processing types(2402) and analyzing the input to determine an intent of the user(2404). Based on a user profile, the method includes determining a modeof transitioning the user from the first application to a secondapplication to yield a chosen mode (2406), the mode being chosen from agroup of modes and, based on the chosen mode, transitioning the userfrom the first application to the second application (2408).

The first application can be one of a first website and a firstsmartphone/tablet application and the second application is one of asecond website and a second smartphone/tablet application. The group ofmodes can include: a tear, an autochange, a search button morph, a dropup menu, a drop down menu, a processing indictor morph and multiplereduced size one-click enabled windows. A “tear” represents an openingin a first interface that makes it appear that the first interface istearing open to reveal another interface below it. So if the firstapplication was google.com, and the user entered a search term that wasdetermined to indicate that the user desires to make a purchase, anopening or a tear in the white space of the google.com page could appearand through that opening would appear a portion of an amazon.comwebpage, preprocessed with the search term, such that the user can clickon the opening space and easily transition from google.com to amazon.comwith the input field data also transitioning as well. This approachreduces the number of necessary clicks. The autochange featureautomatically replaces the URL from google.com to amazon.com (orwhatever the two different websites are) without user input such thatwhen the system determines that a switch is needed, it automaticallydoes it and perhaps further processing to place the destination websitein a one-click purchasing state based on the user input. The searchbutton (the button that indicates what process is performed if a userclicks “enter”) can morph in its functionality based on the user input.A notification of the function to be processed can also morph as well.Drop up, drop down, extension menus can also be provided which not onlydo auto complete but also present one-click purchasing options, callingoptions, video conferencing options, etc. These various modes presentalternate mechanisms of transitioning automatically to a new webpage,application or function. However, given that there are different ways ofmaking such a transition, the user can present and store preferences ofhow to make that transition. Alternately, various options could bepresented and user history, previous searching and internet orapplication usage or other factors outside of or in connection with theuser profile could be used to make the decision of the chosen mode.

The “tear” open to another page can include a one-click option that theuser can click to make a one-click purchase. The system can maintainthat tear view of the other page on the search interface while executingadditional searches, exploring other search results, or browsing toother websites. For example, the user can “pin” the tear in place so itremains available while the user conducts additional browsing activity.Thus, the user could hold the one-click-purchase tear while reviewing,studying, searching around the web, and the user can still use the tearto make a purchase later on.

Transitioning the user can include transitioning the user without theuser navigating manually to the second application. Transitioning theuser can be achieved through the user performing a single click actionto initiate and complete the transitioning. Transitioning the user fromthe first application to the second application can further includepreprocessing the second application using at least one of the input,user identification, user account information, user delivery informationand user preferences, to yield the second application in a one-clickpurchasing state. For example, the first application can process thepayment and coordinate necessary data to the second application fordelivery. Determining the mode can further be based on a screenconfiguration of a device running the first application. The mode mayalso be changing from one type of application (like a website accessedvia a browser) to another type of application, like a smartphone/tabletapplication. All of the preprocessing and so forth can occur in anytransition such that the user is positioned in a state within thedestination that enables them to either browse search results (say onAmazon where the input provided on google.com is used to present searchresults) or in a one-click state where the user can just click topurchase an item.

Advertisements

FIG. 25 illustrates a method embodiment. This embodiment relates to howvarious advertisements can be presented in connection with the use of aunified input field disclosed herein. A method includes receiving inputfrom a user via a unified input field in a first website that canprocess the input in a number of different ways (2502). The firstwebsite could also be a first application or first user interface. Themethod includes identifying an advertisement associated with a secondwebsite or application (2504) and presenting the advertisement in wayassociated with a mode of transitioning from one website (application)to another website (application). There are various ways oftransitioning smoothly and the advertising can be tailored to the modeof transition. For example, the ad can be presented one of the followingways or associated with one of the following transitions: a tear withinthe first website that reveals at least a portion of the second website,in a manner associated with an extension menu identifying the secondwebsite and available for selection by the user, in a manner associatedwith a morphed search button that alternates its function based on anintent identified from the input, in a manner associated with anautomatic transition from the first website to the second websitewithout user direct navigation and in a manner associated with anegotiated version of the second website which places the second websiteinto a one-click purchasing state for selection by the user (2506).

There are a number of different ways of transitioning from a first inputfield context or environment to another without the need of the useractively navigating to the destination environment. In this embodiment,since the system knows the intent of the user based on the analysis ofthe input data of the user, the system can use that intent and theknowledge of the destination site to present advertisements at somepoint during the transition.

For example, if the user is on google.com and enters “iPhone 5s 64 GBsilver” the system may determine that the intent is to make a purchase.A tear could open up in the white space of the webpage revealing aportion of an amazon.com page in a purchase state where the user canjust “one-click” and buy the iPhone and have it delivered. However,elsewhere on the white space, the system could present a Samsung deviceadvertisement, which also could be positioned in a one-click state totempt the user to purchase a different product or to explore a differentproduct. Presenting the advertisement could be based on a price paid forthe advertisement. A position within an extension menu of the secondwebsite or application of the advertisement could also be based on anegotiated price. In this case, when an extension menu is presented, ahighest paid advertiser could be positioned closest to the input field.Presenting the advertisement in one of the ways identified can be chosenbased on a negotiated price. The method can include transitioning theuser from the first website (or application) to the second website (orapplication) based on an intent identified from the input and withoutmanual user navigation.

Presenting Previews of Destination Websites in a Universal SearchInterface

FIG. 26 illustrates a method embodiment. This embodiment focuses onpresenting one or more miniature versions of destination websites ormodified versions of other websites as a result of processing the inputof the unified input field. For example, presenting a small version ofamazon.com featuring the product associated with the input andpreprocessed such that the user can touch a “one-click” button and makea purchase. A method example includes receiving input from a user via aunified input field associated with a first website of a first type(2602) and analyzing the input to determine whether a process to becarried out on the input should be processed by a second website of asecond type to yield a determination, wherein the first type and thesecond type are different types (2604). If the determination indicatesthat to carry out the intent of the user according to the input, thesecond website should process the input, then the method causes aprocessor to perform the operation of communicating to the secondwebsite information including the input, wherein the second website isstarted and preprocessed using the input to yield the second website ina processed state (2606). The processed state could be a search resultsstate which is the equivalent of the user navigating to the other website and entering in the input and searching for products. The processedstate can be a best and most likely resulting product that the userdesires to buy, based on their input and other factors, in connectionwith a one-click option to purchase that product. The buy option, wheninteracted with by a user, can result in the system processing a paymentvia payment data stored with the first application and coordinatingdelivery of the item via a second application. The method includespresenting the second website to the user in the processed state in anarea on a user interface in a position around the unified input field(2608).

The presenting can occur without any additional input from the user tonavigate to the second website. In other words, the user just types inthe input into the input field and the preprocessing of the otherwebsites and presentation of those websites in one of a number ofpossible preprocessed states is performed automatically and without anynavigation input from the user. The number of alternate websitespresented in processed states could be also done based on the amount ofdisambiguation information needed. If the user only puts in “iPhone 5s”then many alternate preprocessed websites could be presented for 32 GBone-click purchase, gold 64 GB one-click purchase, etc. The user can seethese various offerings and disambiguate by simply typing indisambiguation data such as “32” and “silver”. The presentation then ofthe other website can automatically morph such that it narrows down theofferings to perhaps a one-click from Amazon and a one-click from Apple.FIG. 27 illustrates the interface 2700 with the search field 2702,search button 2704 and various alternate destination sites such as onefrom Amazon 2706 for a one-click purchase, and Apple website 2708 for aone-click purchase. An eBay website 2710 with a one-click purchase or aone-click bid button and an Amazon search results offering 2712 whereinif the user click that button, the URL switches to amazon.com and ispreprocessed as though the user had entered in “iPhone 5s 32 GB” and hit“search” directly on Amazon.com. As can be appreciated, preprocessingthe input in this way reduces the number of interactions necessary bythe user to navigate from a search website like Google.com to a productpurchasing website like Amazon.com and then provide input to search andmake a purchase.

The processed state can include one of a state wherein the user couldperform a single click which would cause a purchase and delivery of anitem associated with the input or wherein the user could perform asingle click and view search results on the second website as though theuser had navigated to the second website and entered in the input for asearch. The method can include identifying a third website that couldprocess the input and presenting the third website in the area on theuser interface in a second position around the unified input field. FIG.27 illustrates this approach. The second website and the third websitecan be in different states as is result 2712 compared to results 2706.Further, a position of the second website and the third website relativeto the unified input field can be dependent on which of the secondwebsite and the third website has a most likely intent based on theinput. Clicking on the “one-click” or the “search” button in one of thedestination sites not only causes the purchase and delivery but alsocauses an automatic transitioning from the first website URL (such aswww.google.com) to the chosen website URL (such as www.amazon.com). Inother words, clicking on the “one-click” button (or other functionbutton such as “search results”) not only processes the purchase anddelivery but also causes the transition to the other website. If a userhad navigated to www.amazon.com initially and searched until they clickon the one-click purchasing button, then they would see atwww.amazon.com the notice “Thank you for your 1-click purchase, it isbeing processed.” At that stage, the user could go to their account andchange or cancel the order, track the order etc. The point here is thatby clicking on the one-click button, presented in feature 2706 of FIG.27, which is presented on the URL www.google.com, the systemautomatically causes the URL to change to www.amazon.com in such aprocessed states as to present that message: “Thank you for your 1-clickpurchase, it is being processed.” At that stage, there is no differencein essence between the initial navigation to www.amazon.com and thisautomatic transition from www.www.google.com. Of course, the navigationcan be from any website or application to any other website orapplication. The transition can also include separating the processingof payment and managing delivery. For example, google.com could handlepayment for an item but coordinate with www.merchant.com for delivery ofthe order.

FIG. 28 illustrates another embodiment related to the processingdisclosed herein. A system can present an input field on a userinterface, wherein the input field is associated with a generalizedInternet search engine that serves search results based on crawling andindexing web pages from at least 25,000 individual domains (2800). Thisnumber of course can change but it is meant to distinguish between anInternet search via Google or Yahoo versus a search on a signal websitelike searching www.newyorktimes.com. The method includes receiving userinput from a user in the input field (2802) and presenting auser-selectable option on the user interface, the user-selectable optionbeing associated with processing a purchase of an item associated withthe user input, wherein the purchase is processed and completed via aprocess-purchasing engine (which can be operated by the input fieldentity) and based on a single interaction between the user and theuser-selectable option, the single interaction being a first interactionafter receiving the user input (2804). The delivery of the item can beaccomplished via a separate merchant from the input field entity.

As an example, a user enters in the iPhone 6 into the search field, thusthe “user input” is “iPhone 6”. The user types in the text and hits“enter” or “search”. The system processes that input and constructs aninteraction for the user that enables the user, without performing anyfurther interactions after hitting “enter” (i.e., no need to navigate toanother website or jump to another application), such that the nextinteraction can be (does not have to be but is structured such that itcan be) a user interaction with the user-selectable option to buy(purchase and/or deliver) the iPhone 6. Thus, the method includesreceiving the single interaction with the user-selectable option fromthe user (2806) and processing, based on the single interaction, thepurchase of the item associated with the user input (2808). Of coursethe processing can include purchase and delivery. Other optionsavailable to the user of course could include tailoring the purchasingprocess to be a delivery to a relative or friend (someone other than thepurchaser), or to pay in a different way that is preferable set on theuser profile. Much like purchasing processes and capabilities withoutlets like Amazon.com, the present disclosure encompasses all suchfunctionality at this stage as well. For example, the interaction withthe buy option can result in the first entity associated with theunified input field processing a payment of an item and coordinatingwith a separate merchant for filling or finalizing the order bydelivering the item to the buyer. The first entity would them handlemaking a payment to the merchant.

FIG. 29 illustrates a general example of a method which can apply acrossdifferent sites between a search site like www.google.com and socialnetworking sites. The concept is to change the conventional processingof any of these sites to technically determine through the use ofunconventional steps whether the user has included in the input to thesite (text, image, video, tweet, etc) that has a purchase/sale intent.The first step is to receive user input into the site (2902). The systemevaluates the user input for data that points to a product database(2904). The system may determine that no intent exists or may notidentify a link to a product database or any reference to a product thatmay match products listed in a product database. When there is noreference to a product database, the system processes the user input inthe conventional fashion for the respect site (Google, Twitter,Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest) (2906). When there is some kind of datawithin the user input that links to a product database, the systemchanges to unconventional processing to present a buy option associatedwith recipients of the further processing of the user input (2908).Recipients of tweets, Facebook posts, Instagram pictures, results of aGoogle search, etc., and the like, will see a buy option and be enabledto purchase the product within the site through a service like Apple Payor through the site storing and processing payment data for a user. Whenthe user interacts with the buy option, new processing occurs to processthe payment and/or delivery of the item. For example, a smoothtransition from the site to a deep-link into a merchant or seller sitethat posted the user input can occur such that the user can easilypurchase the item from the merchant site (2910).

Embodiments within the scope of the present disclosure may also includetangible and/or non-transitory computer-readable storage devices forcarrying or having computer-executable instructions or data structuresstored thereon. Such tangible computer-readable storage devices can beany available device that can be accessed by a general purpose orspecial purpose computer, including the functional design of any specialpurpose processor as described above. By way of example, and notlimitation, such tangible computer-readable devices can include RAM,ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storageor other magnetic storage devices, or any other device which can be usedto carry or store desired program code in the form ofcomputer-executable instructions, data structures, or processor chipdesign. When information or instructions are provided via a network oranother communications connection (either hardwired, wireless, orcombination thereof) to a computer, the computer properly views theconnection as a computer-readable medium. Thus, any such connection isproperly termed a computer-readable medium. Combinations of the aboveshould also be included within the scope of the computer-readablestorage devices.

Computer-executable instructions include, for example, instructions anddata which cause a general purpose computer, special purpose computer,or special purpose processing device to perform a certain function orgroup of functions. Computer-executable instructions also includeprogram modules that are executed by computers in stand-alone or networkenvironments. Generally, program modules include routines, programs,components, data structures, objects, and the functions inherent in thedesign of special-purpose processors, etc. that perform particular tasksor implement particular abstract data types. Computer-executableinstructions, associated data structures, and program modules representexamples of the program code means for executing steps of the methodsdisclosed herein. The particular sequence of such executableinstructions or associated data structures represents examples ofcorresponding acts for implementing the functions described in suchsteps.

Other embodiments of the disclosure may be practiced in networkcomputing environments with many types of computer systemconfigurations, including personal computers, hand-held devices,multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumerelectronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and thelike. Embodiments may also be practiced in distributed computingenvironments where tasks are performed by local and remote processingdevices that are linked (either by hardwired links, wireless links, orby a combination thereof) through a communications network. In adistributed computing environment, program modules may be located inboth local and remote memory storage devices.

The various embodiments described above are provided by way ofillustration only and should not be construed to limit the scope of thedisclosure. Various modifications and changes may be made to theprinciples described herein without following the example embodimentsand applications illustrated and described herein, and without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Claim language reciting “atleast one of” a set indicates that one member of the set or multiplemembers of the set satisfy the claim.

We claim:
 1. A method comprising: submitting, from a posting entity, atleast one of text, an image or a video on a social networking site toyield a posting, wherein the social networking site: receives andtransmits posted items from the posting entity to receiving entities;identifies data associated with the posting; and determines whether thedata identifies a product within a database of products for sale fromthe posting entity to yield a determination; when the determinationindicates that there is no reference to the product in the database ofproducts: transmits the posting through the social networking sitewithout an option to buy; and when the determination indicates that theposting references the product in the database of products, and thusindicating a sale-related intent: transmits the posting through thesocial networking site with a buy option associated with the product;and receives a purchase interaction from a buyer associated with the buyoption; and receiving, at a site operated by the posting entity, atransition of the buyer from the social networking site to a deep linkin the site operated by the posting entity.
 2. The method of claim 1,further comprising: processing a purchase and delivery of the productfrom site of the posting entity.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein theposting entity is a merchant.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the deeplink within the site of the posting entity comprises a state in the siteof the posting entity in which a user of the social networking site canpurchase the product.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the site of theposting entity receives a payment of the product from a user of thesocial networking site.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the site ofthe posting entity delivers the product to the user of the socialnetworking site.
 7. The method of claim 4, wherein the product ispresented in the posting submitted on the social networking site.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the determining of whether the dataidentifies the product within the database of products for sale from theposting entity to yield a determination is performed via an applicationprogramming interface between the social networking site and thedatabase of products.
 9. A system comprising: a processor; and acomputer-readable storage device storing instructions, which, whenexecuted by the processor, cause the processor to perform operationscomprising: submitting, from a posting entity, at least one of text, animage or a video on a social networking site to yield a posting, whereinthe social networking site: receives and transmits posted items from theposting entity to receiving entities; identifies data associated withthe posting; and determines whether the data identifies a product withina database of products for sale from the posting entity to yield adetermination; when the determination indicates that there is noreference to the product in the database of products: transmits theposting through the social networking site without an option to buy; andwhen the determination indicates that the posting references the productin the database of products, and thus indicating a sale-related intent:transmits the posting through the social networking site with a buyoption associated with the product; and receives a purchase interactionfrom a buyer associated with the buy option; and receiving, at a siteoperated by the posting entity, a transition of the buyer from thesocial networking site to a deep link in the site operated by theposting entity.
 10. The system of claim 9, wherein the computer-readablestorage device stores additional instructions, which, when executed bythe processor, cause the processor to perform further operationscomprising processing the purchase and delivery of the product from theposting entity.
 11. The system of claim 9, wherein the posting entity isa merchant.
 12. The system of claim 9, wherein the deep link within thesite of the posting entity comprises a state in the site of the postingentity in which a user of the social networking site can purchase theproduct.
 13. The system of claim 12, wherein the site of the postingentity receives a payment of the product from the user of the socialnetworking site.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein the site of theposting entity delivers the product to the user of the social networkingsite.
 15. The system of claim 12, wherein the product is presented inposting submitted on the social networking site.
 16. The system of claim9, wherein the determining of whether the data identifies the productwithin the database of products for sale from the posting entity toyield a determination is performed via an application programminginterface between the social networking site and the database ofproducts.
 17. A computer-readable storage device storing instructions,which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to performoperations comprising: submitting, from a posting entity, at least oneof text, an image or a video on a social networking site to yield aposting, wherein the social networking site: receives and transmitsposted items from the posting entity to receiving entities; identifiesdata associated with the posting; and determines whether the dataidentifies a product within a database of products for sale from theposting entity to yield a determination; when the determinationindicates that there is no reference to the product in the database ofproducts: transmits the posting through the social networking sitewithout an option to buy; and when the determination indicates that theposting references the product in the database of products, and thusindicating a sale-related intent: transmits the posting through thesocial networking site with a buy option associated with the product;and receives a purchase interaction from a buyer associated with the buyoption; and receiving, at a site operated by the posting entity, atransition of the buyer from the social networking site to a deep linkin the site operated by the posting entity.
 18. The computer-readablestorage device of claim 17, wherein the computer-readable storage devicestores further instructions which, when executed by the processor, causethe processor to perform operations further comprising: processing thepurchase and delivery of the product from the posting entity.
 19. Thecomputer-readable storage device of claim 17, wherein the deep linkwithin the site of the posting entity comprises a state in the site ofthe posting entity in which a user of the social networking site canpurchase the product.
 20. The computer-readable storage device of claim19, wherein the site of the posting entity receives a payment of theproduct from the user of the social networking site.